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BR  145  .D672 

:  1895 

Dorchester, 

Daniel, 

1827- 

1907. 

The  problem 

r>  r- r>  rf  r- o  c:  c 

of  religious 

THE  PROBLEM 

OF 

RELIGIOUS  PROGRESS 


BY 

Daniel  Dorchester,  D.D 


REVISED   EDITION 
WITH  NEW  TABLES  AND   COLORED   DIAGRAMS 


New  York:   Hunt  &  Eaton 
Cincinnati:  Cranston  &  Curts 


Copyright  by 

HUNT  &  EATON, 

1895. 


Composition,  electrotyping, 
printing,  and  binding  by 

Hunt  &  Eaton, 
150  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York. 


PREFACE. 


AFTER  a  wide  sale  for  thirteen  years,  in 
response  to  repeated  requests,  a  new  edition 
of  this  volume  is  given  to  the  public. 

My  absence  from  home,  for  nearly  five  years  on 
the  Western  frontiers,  superintending  the  Indian 
schools  of  the  United  States,  necessitated  delay  in 
meeting  the  request  of  friends  for  the  revised  edi- 
tion now  presented  to  the  public. 

The  revision  has  been  thorough,  bringing  the 
data  down  to  the  present  year,  and  important  addi- 
tions have  been  made,  including  points  of  inquiry 
and  discussion  pertaining  to  the  most  recent  phases 
of  moral  and  social  evolution.  Questions  relating 
to  science  and  faith,  the  cit}-  perils,  divorce,  crime, 
lynchings,  pauperism,  intemperance,  wages,  the  pur- 
chasing power  of  money  during  the  last  fifty  years, 
the  anarchistic  spirit  and  other  kindred  topics,  have 
received  such  treatment  as  could  be  given  them 
within  the  limits  of  this  volume. 

A  new  part  has  been  inserted  upon  "  Christianity 
in  the  World's  Consciousness  and  Life,"  showing  by 
crucial  facts  that  Christianity  was  never  a  greater 
working  force  in  the  common  life  of  the  race  than 


4  Preface. 

at  the  present  "time.  It  is  confidently  expected 
that  with  these  additions  the  volume  will  possess 
a  renewed  value. 

The  value  is  enhanced  by  the  introduction,  in  a 
generalized  and  discriminated  form,  of  the  unusually 
full  and  reliable  results  of  the  last  census  of  the 
Churches  of  the  United  States,  and  also  much 
essential  data  from  the  censuses  of  Canada,  En- 
gland, and  the  continent  of  Europe,  officially  col- 
lected at  the  beginning  of  the  present  decade. 

For  the  great  favor  with  which  the  first  edi- 
tions of  this  work  were  received,  the  author 
expresses  sincere  thanks. 

Daniel  Dorchester. 

Boston,  Mass.,  November  30,  1894. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

PREFACE 3 


PROLOGUE  (Whittiek) 13 


THE  QUESTION  OPENED. 

"The  World  Going  to  the  Bad" — "Spirituality  Declining  in 
the  Churches" — "A  Break  Between  Modern  Thought  and 
Ancient  Faith" — "Christianity  Outgrown  by  the  Popula- 
tion"— "  Protestantism  Outgrown  by  Romanism" — "  Prot- 
estnntism  the  Generator  of  Skepticism" — "  Protestantism  a 
Deteriorater  of  Morals  " — ' '  A  General  Collapse  of  Religious 
Belief  at  Hand" — "A  Moral  Interregnum  at  Hand" — 
Mr.  D.  L.  Moody's  Premillenarianism 17 


THE  PROBLEM. 

Protestantism  on  Trial,  from  Within  and  Without  —  A  Favor- 
able Solution  Indicated 33 


I.    FAITH. 

CHAPTER  L 

BONDAGE. 

Spiritual  Despotism — Papal  Scholasticism — Protestant  Scholas- 
ticism       45 


6  Contents, 

chapter  ii. 

LIBERATING   FACTORS. 

PAGE 

Modern    Skepticism  —  Physical   Science — Antitrinitarian    Prot- 
estantism— Modern  Philosophy 6i 

CHAPTER  TIL 

PHASES   OF   PROGRESS. 

Threatening  Aspects — Safeguards — Encouraging  Indications.. .     87 
CHAPTER  IV. 

DELIVERANCE. 

Restatement — Vindication — Rejuvenation — The  True  Ideal. . . .   121 


II.    MORALS. 

CHAPTER  I. 

TYPICAL   PERIODS. 
Europe  Anterior  to  the  Lutheran  Reformation — England  An- 
terior to  the  Wesleyan  Reformation  —  The  United  States 
from  1700  to  1800 161 

CHAPTER  11. 

THE    PRESENT    PERIOD. 

Specific  Tendencies — Sabl^ath  Observance — Slavery  and  Bar- 
barism—  Unchastity  and  Divorce — Impure  Literature — 
Crime 207 

CHAPTER  IIL 

THE   PRESENT    PERIOD,   (CONTINUED.) 

Intemperance — Dueling — English  Morals — New  England  Morals 
— Irreverence,  etc.  —  Pauperism  —  The  Economic  View — 
Longevity  and  Sanitary  Science — The  Anarchistic  Spirit — 
Philanthropic  Agencies — Penal  Inflictions — Machinery  and 
Moral  and  Social  Progress — The  Peril  of  tlie  Cities — Criti- 
cisms and  Testimonies 291 


Contents.  7 

III.  SPIRITUAL  VITALITY. 

CHAPTER  I. 

TYPICAL    PERIODS. 

PAGE 

The  Eve  of  the  Lutheran  Reformation — The  Eve  of  the  Wes- 
leyan  Reformation — The  Eve  of  the  Edwardean  Revival — 
The  Eve  of  the  Revival  of  1800-1803 379 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE   NEW    SPIRITUAL   ERA. 

New  Life — The  New  Life  Organizing— The  New  Life  Aggres- 
sive—New Lay  Activities— City  Missions — Home  Missions 
— Young  Men's  Christian  Associations  —  Foreign  Missions 
— Imperfections — Type  of  Religious  Character — The  Out- 
look    407 


CHAPTER    IIL 

CHRISTIANITY   AN    INCREASING   FORCE   IN   THE   WORLD'S 
CONSCIOUSNESS   AND   LIFE. 

In  the  World's  Thought— In  Civil  Government  and  Adminis- 
tration—In Higher  Education  and  Culture — In  Philan- 
thropy and  Reform— In  Morals— In  the  Physical  and  Social 
Condition— In  Literature— In  Art — In  Song — In  Practical, 
Social,  and  Institutional  Work — This  Elevation  not  the 
Fruitage  of  Civilization,  but  of  Christianity 453 


IV.   STATISTICAL    EXHIBITS. 

CHAPTER   L 

STATISTICAL   SCIENCE. 
Preliminary  Observations 511 


8  Contents, 

chapter  ii. 

RELIGIOUS   PROGRESS   AND   STATUS. 

PROTESTANTISM   AND    ROMANISM. 

PAGE 

III  Europe — In  Papal  America  :  South  America,  Mexico,  The 
British  Dominion  in  North  America,  and  Portions  of  the 
United  States  Formerly  Papal 525 

CHAPTER    III. 

RELIGIOUS   PROGRESS   AND    STATUS   IN   THE  UNITED   STATES, 

Difficulties  of  the  Situation.  I.  T/ie  Actual  Progress :  The 
Evangelical  Churches — The  "Liberal"  Churches — The 
Roman  Catholic  Church.  II.  The  Relative  Progress  :  The 
Churches  Compared  with  the  Population — The  Evangel- 
ical, "  Liberal,"  and  Roman  Catholic  Churches  Compared 
with  Each  Other — The  Churches  and  Higher  Education — 
Modern  and  Early  Christian  Progress — Encouraging  Con- 
clusion     553 

CHAPTER    IV. 

FOREIGN    MISSIONS.    ■ 

Inception — Papal  and  Protestant  Mission  Funds — Foreign  Mis- 
sions of  the  United  States — Foreign  Missions  of  Christen- 
dom— Papal  and  Protestant  Missions — Missions  Vindicated 
by  Testimony — Results 607 

CHAPTER   V. 

THE   WORLD-WIDE   VIEW. 

Christian  Populations  —  Christian  Governments  —  Papal  and 
Protestant  Governments — Papal  and  Protestant  Areas — 
The  English-speaking  Populations — Civil  Supremacy  of 
Protestantism — The  Ascending  Sun • .  647 


Contents.  9 


APPENDIX 


ECCLESIASTICAL   AND    SOCIAL    STA- 
TISTICS. 

UNITED    STATES. 

TABLE  PAGE 

I .  Churches  and  Ministers  in  1875 675 

II.   Churches,  Ministers,  and  Communicants  in  iSoo 676 

III.         "         "       "        185^- 676 

IV.        "         "       "        1870 679 

V,        ♦*         "       "        1880 681 

VI.        "         "       "        1890 683 

VII.         "         "       "        1894 689 

VIII.   Recapitulation 694 

IX.   Unitarian  Societies 694 

X.   Universalist  Ministers 695 

XI.   Universalist  Parishes 695 

XII.   The  New  Jerusalem  Church 695 

XIII.  The  Roman  Catholic  Church    696 

XIV.  Church  Organizations,   Edifices,     Sittings,     and  Valu- 

ation in  1850,  i860,  1870,  1890 69(1 

XV.   The  Colleges  and  the  Churches 703 

XVI.   Foreign  Mission  Receipts 705 

XVII.   Home  Mission  Receipts 706 

XVIII.   Religious  Publication  Receipts 707 

XIX.   Arrivals  of  Immigrants,  by  Nationalities  and  Decades, 

1790-1894 708,  709 

XX.   Divorces  by  States,  1867-18S6 710 

XXI.   Distilled  Spirits,  Wines,  etc.,  Consumed  1875-1893...  711 


lo  Contents. 

TABLE  PAGE 

XXII.   Consumption  of  Liquors,  1810-1870 712 

XXIII.  Tile  Cliurches  and  tlie  Cities 713 

XXIV.  Wages  in  the  United  States  for  Fifty-two  Years. . .   714 
XXV.   The  Purchasing  Power  of  Money 715 


THE   BRITISH    ISLANDS. 

XXVI.  The  Protestant  Churches 719 

XXVII.  Dissenters  in  England  and  Wales 721 

XXVIII.  Romanism  in  the  British  Isles 721 

XXIX.  Romanism,  Protestantism,   and  the   Population    in 

Ireland 722 

XXX.  Romanism   and   the    Population    in    England   and 

Wales 722 

XXXI.   Roman  Catholics  in  England,  Wales,  and  Ireland.  722 

XXXII.  Consumption  of  Alcoholic  Liquors  in  Great  Britain.  723 

ECUMENICAL   STATISTICS. 

XXXIII.  The  Anglican  Communion  in  the  Whole  World. .  .    727 

XXXIV.  Baptists  in  the  Whole  World  in  i860  and  1880. . .    728 
XXXV.  "  "  "  "  1893 729 

XXXVI.  Congregationalists  in  the  Whole  World  in  1880 731 

XXXVII.                    "                  "             "             "          1893....  732 

XXXVIII.   Methodists  in  the  Whole  World  in  i860  and  1880  .  733 

XXXIX.             "             "             "           "           1S93-94 734 

XL.  Moravians  in  the  Whole  World  in  1880 735 

XLL             "             "             "           "         1893 735 

XLII.  Foreign  Missions  of  the  United  States  in  1850 736 

XLIII.           "             '          1880....  737 

XLIV.  Foreign  Missions  of  Europe  and  America  in  1830..  738 

XLV.           "             "         "         "         "             "            1850..  740 

XLVL          "            "        "        "        "            "           1880..  741 


Contents.  ii 

TABLE  PAGE 

XLVII.   Foreign  Missions  of  the   Evangelical   Churches   of 

the  United  States,  1892-93 744 

XLVIII.  British  Foieign  Missions    and    Kindred    Societies, 

1892-93 745 

XLIX.   Summary  of  Protestant  Foreign  Missions,  1892-93.  746 

L.   Religious  Census  of  Europe 747 

LI.  Yearly  Rate  of  Increase  of  Population 748 

LII.   Independent  States  under  Christian  Governments.. 

749.  750 


DIAGRAMS. 


MAP  FACING   PAGE 

I.  Localities  of  Lynchings  in  the  United  States 227 

DIAGRAM 

II.   Increase  of  Divorces  in  the  United  States 239 

III.  Immigration  into  the  United  States  in  Ten  Years 267 

IV.  "  "  "  One  Year,  .facing  Dia.  III. 

V.   Diminution  of  High  Crimes  in  the  British  Isles 276 

VI.  "  of  Pauperism  in  England  and  Wales 27S 

VII.  Advance  in  Popular  Education  in  Great  Britain 279 

VIII.   Decline  in  the  Consumption  of  Distilled  Spirits  in  the 

United  States  in  Eighty-three  Years 300 

IX.  Increase   in   the  Consumption   of  Beer  in  the  United 

States  in  Fifty-three  Years 301 

X.  Consumption    of  Wine    and    Distilled    Spirits   in  the 

British  Isles 303 

XI.  Consumption  of  Malt  Liquors  in  the    British  Isles  in 

Forty-three  Years 304 

XII.   Liquor  Bill  of  the  United  Kingdom  for  Twenty  Years.    305 
XIII.  Rate  of    Wages    in    the   United   States  for  Fifty-two 

Years 326 


12  Contents. 

DIAGRAM  FACING   PAGE 

XIV.   Purchasing  Power  of  Money  in  the  United  States  for 

Fifty-two  Years 327 

XV.  Growth  of  Fifty  Principal  Cities  in  the  United  States.  355 
XVI.  Religious    Condition  of   124  Large  Cities  of  25,000 

Inhabitants  and  over  in  the  United  States 365 

XVII.  Growth  of  Sunday  Schools 416 

XVIII.  The  Colleges  and  the  Churches 466 

PAGES 

XIX.  Denominational   and  Undenominational  Students  in 

Course  for  A.B 469,  470 

XX.  Religious  Population  of  Europe 529,  530 

FACING    PAGE 

XXI.  Waves  of  Immigration 558 

XXII.  Immigration  from  Four  European  Countries 559 

PAGES 

XXIII.  Church  Accommodations  in  the  United  States.  .  565,  566 

XXIV.  Valuation  of  Church  Property  in  the  United  States. 

569,  570 
XXV.  Relative  Progress  of  Evangelical,  Roman  Catholic, 

and  Total  Population  of  the  United  States.  601,  602 

FACING    PAGE 

XXVI.  The  World's  Population  Religiously  Classified 628 

XXVII.  Progress  of  Christianity  in  all  the  World 650 

XXVIII.  Populations  under  Christian  Governments 654 


PROLOGUE. 


PEOLOGUE. 


The  outward  rite,  the  old  abuse, 

The  pious  fraud  transparent  grown, 
The  good  held  captive  in  the  use 

Of  wrong  alone — 
These  wait  their  doom,  from  that  great  law 
Which  makes  the  past  time  serve  to-day  • 
And  fresher  life  the  world  shall  draw 
From  their  decay, 

O  backward-looking  son  of  time ! 
The  new  is  old,  the  old  is  new ; 
The  cycle  of  a  change  sublime 
Still  sweeping  through. 
So  wisely  taught  the  Indian  seer ; 

Destroying  Seva,  forming  Brahm, 
Who  wake  by  turn  Earth's  love  and  fear, 
Are  one,  the  same. 

Idly  as  thou,  in  that  old  day 

Thou  mournest,  did  thy  sire  repine ; 
So,  in  his  time,  thy  child  grown  gray 

Shall  sigh  for  thine. 
But  life  shall  on  and  upward  go ; 

The  eternal  step  of  Progress  beats 

To  that  great  anthem,  calm  and  slow, 

Which  God  repeats. 

Take  heart !    The  waster  builds  again. 
A  charmed  life  old  Goodness  hath  ; 
The  tares  may  perish,  but  the  grain 

Is  not  for  death. 
God  works  in  a!)  things ;  all  obey 

His  first  propulsion  from  the  night , 
Wake  thou  and  watch !  the  world  is  gray 
With  morning  light. 


1 6  Prologue. 

I,  TOO,  am  weak,  and  faith  is  small, 

And  blindness  happeneth  unto  all. 

Yet,  sometimes  glimpses  on  my  sight, 

Through  present  wrong,  the  eternal  right ; 

And,  step  by  step,  since  time  began, 

I  see  the  steady  gain  of  man  ; 

That  all  of  good  the  past  hath  had 

Remains  to  make  our  own  time  glad, — 

Our  common  daily  life  divine. 

And  every  land  a  Palestine ! .  . . 

O  friend  !  we  need  not  rock  nor  sand, 

Nor  storied  stream  of  Morning-Land  ; 

The  heavens  are  glassed  in  Merrimack,— 

What  more  could  Jordan  render  back  ? 

We  lack  but  open  eye  and  ear 

To  find  the  Orient's  marvels  here; — 

The  still  small  voice  in  autumn's  hush, 

Yon  maple  wood  the  burning  bush. 

For  still  the  new  transcends  the  old. 

In  signs  and  tokens  manifold  ; — 

Slaves  rise  up  men  ;  the  olive  waves. 

With  roots  deep  set  in  battle  graves  ! 

Through  the  harsh  noises  of  our  day 

A  low,  sweet  prelude  finds  its  way  ; 

Through  clouds  of  doubt  and  creeds  of  fear, 

A  light  is  breaking,  calm  and  clear. 

That  song  of  Love,  now  low  and  far, 

Ere  long  shall  swell  from  star  to  star ! 

That  light,  the  breaking  day,  which  tips 

The  golden-spired  Apocalypse ! .  .  . 

Flow  on,  sweet  river,  like  the  stream 

Of  John's  Apocalyptic  dream  ! 

This  maple  ridge  shall  Horeb  be. 

Yon  green-banked  lake  our  Galilee  ! 

Henceforth  my  heart  shall  sigh  no  more 

For  olden  time  and  holier  shore  ; 

God's  love  and  blessing,  then  and  there, 

Are  now  and  here  and  every-where. — Whittikr. 


THE  QUESTION  OPENED. 


THE 

Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


THE    QUESTION    OPENED. 

APOSTLES  of  complaint  and  despondency 
invade  even  the  brightest  pathways  of  modern 
progress,  proclaiming  doleful  views  of  the  world's 
tendencies  and  prospects.  This  pessimistic  taint 
appears  in  manifold  forms,  from  the  destructive  and 
hopeless  Atheism  of  Schopenhauer  to  the  plaintive 
sighs  of  perplexed  and  discouraged  saints. 

In  its  most  radical  form  it  tells  us  there  is  no 
God ;  this  world  and  its  inhabitants  are  only  mate- 
rial mechanisms,  dominated  by  fatality  ;  the  idea  of 
progress,  moral  or  social,  is  a  Utopian  hallucination 
of  visionary  minds,  and  that  only  decay  and  dete- 
rioration can  come  out  of  the  present  constitution 
of  the  world,  going  on  until  it  is  utterly  worn  out. 
According  to  this  atheistic  theory  the  world  must 
inevitably  grow  worse.  All  evolution  to  better 
conditions  and  all  progress  upward  are  discarded. 

In  its  next  most  radical  form  pessimism  tells  us 
that  Christianity,  after  eighteen  centuries  of  alter- 
nations, with  meager  results,  must  be  pronounced  a 


20        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

failure ;  that  it  has  already  reached  the  period  of 
obsolescence  and  decay;  that  it  has  ceased  to  be  an 
aggressive  moral  force  in  the  world  ;  and  that,  in 
respect  to  real  progress,  Christianity  has  always 
been  a  laggard  in  the  march  of  mind. 

In  another  form,  a  little  less  radical,  the  pessi- 
mistic complaint  includes  only  Protestantism  in  its 
indictment,  claiming  that  it  is  a  failure ;  that  it  is 
"  falling  in  pieces  like  a  broken  raft "  in  stormy 
seas ;  that  it  has  no  hold  on  either  the  intellect  or 
the  conscience  of  the  great  nations,  and  that  it  is  a 
generator  of  unbelief  and  immorality. 

Others  tell  us  that  it  is  "evangelical"  Protestant- 
ism that  is  at  fault ;  that  it  has  so  changed  its  doc- 
trines as  to  be  no  longer  the  Protestantism  of  the 
Reformation  period,  and  that,  in  its  present  form,  it 
is  questionable  whether  it  can  be  said  to  have  any 
historical  antecedents.  The  foreign  missions  of 
Protestantism,  especially,  are  pronounced  a  failure. 
The  moral  and  religious  prospects  of  the  British 
Isles,  of  the  Canadian  Dominion,  and  the  United 
States  are  declared  to  be  gloomy  and  discouraging. 

Pessimists  of  the  premillenarian  type,  and  some 
others,  contend  that  according  to  the  Bible  the 
world  must  "  wax  worse  and  worse;  "  that  there  *'  will 
be  no  more  religious  triumphs  in  the  world  under 
the  present  dispensation,"  and  that  "  only  under  a 
coming  dispensation  of  Christ's  personal  reign  on 
earth  will  the  Gospel  achieve  success." 


The  Question  Opened.  21 

Such,   in   brief,   are   the  allegations  of  minds  in 
which  the  pessimistic  virus  has  worked. 

What  are  the  views  justified  by  a  careful  study  of 
the  case?  Is  the  world  growing  worse  or  better  ? 
Is  Christianity  declining  or  advancing?  Is  Protest- 
antism, or  "  evangelical  "  Protestantism,  dwindling 
or  expanding  in  Europe,  in  the  British  Isles,  in  the 
United  States,  and  in  the  world  ?  What  conclusion 
does  the  world's  statistics,  or  the  world's  conscious- 
ness and  life  justify  as  to  the  actual  trend  of  mod- 
ern society  ?  We  believe  that  in  all  these  respects 
there  is  genuine  improvement. 

Three  hypotheses  are  premised  : 

1.  Under  some  kind  of  religion  the  world  is  bet- 
ter than  under  no  religion. 

2.  Under  Christianity  the  world  is  better  than 
under  Paganism. 

3.  Under  Protestantism  the  world  is  better  than 
under  the  Roman  Catholic  or  the  Greek  Churches. 

The  inferences  from  these  premises  need  not  be 
written  out. 

But,  first,  the  complainants  will  be  allowed  to 
state  freely  their  allegations. 

Criticism  is  the  exhaustless  heritage  of  Christian- 
ity. It  has  come  both  from  within  and  without. 
Especially  has  Protestantism  been  subject  to  crit- 
ical ordeals.  "  The  Decline  of  Protestantism,  and 
its  Causes,"  was  the  topic  of  an  address  to  the  citi- 
zens of  New  York,  by  Archbishop  Hughes,   about 


22        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

the  year  1850,  in  which  he  asserted  that  "Prot- 
estantism had  lost  all  central  force  and  power  over 
the  masses  of  mankind."  His  uninspired  auguries 
were  caught  up  and  echoed  in  High-Church  circles; 
and  in  1868  a  bold  volume  —  "Protestantism  a 
Failure" — appeared,  from  the  pen  of  Rev.  F.  C 
Ewer,  D.  D.,  a  very  estimable  and  eminent  ritual- 
istic clergyman  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church. 
Three  years  later,  a  writer  in  the  "  Catholic  World," 
in  a  somewhat  elaborate  article  on  the  "  Statistics 
of  Protestantism  in  the  United  States,"  with  an  un- 
discriminating  and  unpardonable  carelessness,  drew 
a  comparison  between  two  abnormal  periods — t!  j 
one,  of  unnatural  growth,  under  the  Second  Advent 
excitement,  and  the  other,  of  declension,  at  the 
close  of  the  civil  war — and  from  this  defective  basis, 
evincing  a  meager  growth,  made  a  suppositious 
demonstration  of  the  probable  number  of  Protestant 
communicants  in  the  year  1900 ;  and  triumphantly 
inferred  that  Protestantism  is  hopelessly  falling, 
and  must  inevitably  fall,  behind  the  progress  of  the 
population.  It  is  a  fact,  not  to  be  omitted  in  this 
connection,  that  the  10,844,576  Protestant  commu- 
nicants, in  the  year  1900,  according  to  the  conject- 
ural calculations  of  this  Roman  Catholic  writer,  are 
not  over  two  thirds,  as  will  be  shown  in  our  future 
pages,  of  the  present  number ;  a  half  dozen  years 
yetjemain  before  the  close  of  the  century. 

Father  Thomas  S.  Preston,  an  ex-Protestant,  long 


The  Question  Opened.  23 

high  in  the  counsels  of  Rome,  as  Vicar-General  in 
the  Diocese  of  New  York,  very  boldly  renewed  the 
charge,  that  Protestantism  is  a  failure ;  and  so  said 
Pere  Hyacinthe,  in  an  able  lecture  on  Deism,  in 
Paris,  declaring  that  "  neither  Deism  nor  Protest- 
antism can  be  generally  and  permanently  accepted 
by  the  French  people,"  and  that  "a  reformed 
Catholicism  " — confessedly  a  hitherto  unknown  ism, 
and  too  uncertain  a  basis  for  theorizing — "  is  the 
only  solution." 

Besides  Romanists  and  High-Churchmen,  skep- 
tical thinkers  of  various  grades  have  represented 
Protestantism  as  having  seen  its  best  days,  and  as 
now  rapidly  losing  its  hold  upon  the  world.  Mr. 
Buckle,  in  his  "  History  of  Civihzation,"  reiterated 
this  view ;  and  it  has  since  been  echoed  in  coarser 
and  more  vulgar  forms.  The  advocacy  of  Protest- 
antism has  been  represented  as  faint  and  apolo- 
getic—an indication  of  a  loss  of  heart  and  internal 
demoralization.  It  is  said  that  the  scholars  and 
thinkers  are  arrayed  against  its  peculiar  tenets  ;  that 
they  are  rapidly  extracting  from  it  the  best  part  of 
its  social  ethics,  and  gradually  reducing  it  to  the 
lowest  terms— a  kind  of  philosophic  deism  ;  that 
only  Roman  Catholics  and  a  i^^  "  seared  and  shriv- 
eled relics  of  Protestantism "  now  attend  church  ; 
and  that,  henceforth,  the  Bible,  as  an  authoritative 
revelation,  is  to  be  discarded  and  laid  upon  the 
back  shelf,  as  "  a  queer  relic  of  an  ancient  faith," 


24        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

while  the  world  moves  on  under  the  widening  influ- 
ence of  modern  ideas. 

In  an  elaborate  address,  in  1868,  Rev.  William. 
J.  Potter,*  of  New  Bedford,  claimed  to  demonstrate 
that  the  Protestant  sects  in  the  United  States  are 
gaining  very  little,  only  five  per  cent.,  in  ten  years 
(1850-1860,)  upon  the  population. 

In  1872  Rev.  Henry  W.  Bellows,  D.D.,t  dis- 
coursed very  eloquently  upon  the  "  Break  between 
Modern  Thought  and  Ancient  Faith  and  Worship." 
Speaking  of  "  the  Church  and  its  creed,  on  the 
one  side,  and  the  world  and  its  practical  faith  on 
the  other,"  he  said:  "An  antagonism  has  arisen  be- 
tween them  as  of  oil  and  water;"  that  "there  are 
some  millions  of  people  in  this  country,  not  the 
least  intelligent  or  useful  citizens  in  all  cases,  who 
never  enter  a  church  door;"  that  "  Church  religion 
and  general  culture  do  not  play  any  longer  into 
each  other's  hands;"  that  '*  the  professors  in  col- 
lege, the  physicians,  the  teachers,  the  scientists,  the 
reformers,  the  politicians,  the  newspaper  men,  the 
reviewers,  the  authors,  are  seldom  professing  Chris- 
tians, or  even  church-goers ;  and,  if  they  do  go  to 
church,  from  motives  of  interest  or  example,  they 
are  free  enough  to  confess,  in  private,  that  they  do 

♦  See  First  Annual  Report  of  the  Free  Religious  Association, 
Boston,  1868,  p.  56. 

f  "  Christianity  and  Modern  Thought."  American  Unitarian 
Association. 


The  Question  Opened.  25 

not  much  believe  what  they  hear."  Dr.  Bellows, 
nevertheless,  expressed  hope  for  the  future  of 
Christianity. 

But  a  later  and  more  serious  complaint  appeared 
from  Rev.  Dr.  Ewer,  who,  after  a  lapse  of  ten  years, 
very  sharply  renewed  his  bold  indictment  against 
Protestantism  in  several  discourses*  delivered  in 
Newark,  N.  J.,  "at  the  request  of  leading  Epis- 
copal laymen  in  that  city."  He  said  that  Protest- 
antism is  only  "  a  miserable  raft,  its  fragments  float- 
ing apart  like  the  flying  rack  of  the  heavens ;"  that 
"  the  poor  remnants  only  of  the  great  nations  are 
clinging  to  its  parted  and  broken  logs,  and  earnest, 
thinking  men  are  at  their  wits'  end  to  know  what  is 
truth."  He  stoutly  claimed  that  "  the  solemn  in- 
dictment against  Protestantism,  drawn  up "  by 
himself,  in  1868,  "  in  the  fear  of  God,  and  in  behalf 
of  dying  souls,  and  uttered  in  Christ's  Church,  Mur- 
ray Hill,  New  York,  was  not  met  by  argument,  but 
only  by  a  gale  of  holy  malediction  and  impotent 
scorn;"  that  the  volume  passed  through  several 
editions,  but  has  never  been  answered,  and  cannot 
be  answered. 

Dr.  Ewer  said  :  "  To  say  nothing  of  the  specifica- 
tions in  those  eight  discourses,  what  were  two  of  the 
main  counts  in  the  indictment  ?  First,  that  where- 
as, 250  years  ago,  the  Protestant  religious  dogmas 
held  captive  to  themselves  great  thoughtful  peoples 
*  "  Complete  Preacher,"  June  and  July,  1878. 


26        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

of  the  Germanic,  the  Swiss,  and  the  Anglo-Saxon 
man,  those  dogmas  had  failed  to  retain  the  hold 
they  once  had,  and  have,  to  an  overwhelming  ex- 
tent, lost  at  last  the  intellect  of  those  peoples  ;  and 
that,  while  250  years  ago  Protestantism  held  the 
masses  as  well  as  the  intellect  of  those  peoples,  it 
has  failed  to  hold  and  has  lost  those  masses  as  well 
as  ^he  intellect  ;  that  Protestantism,  as  a  form  of 
Christianity,  stands  to-day  breast-deep  in  torrents 
of  skepticism  which  itself  hath  let  loose,  which  are 
deepening  around  it,  and  in  which  it  is  drowning; 
and  that  it  stands  there  to-day  aghast  and  incom- 
petent. This  was  one  count  in  the  indictment. 
Gentlemen,  you  have  seen  that  it  has  not  been  de- 
nied. A  second  count  was  that  the  fundamental 
religious  premises  of  Protestantism  were  essentially 
anti-Christian,  and  must  end,  by  inexorable  logic, 
in  infidel  conclusions  ;  that  if  Calvin's  and  Luther's 
and  Zwingli's  premises  were  to  be  accepted,  then 
Channing's  conclusions  were  nearer  right  by  logic 
than  Cromwell's,  and  Theodore  Parker's  nearer  right 
than  Channing's,  and  Frothingham's  and  Adler's 
the  rightest  of  all,  and  quite  unanswerable  by  a 
Protestant ;  that  when  the  Calvinists  burned  Ser- 
vetus  at  the  stake  they  burned  Calvin's  own  brain- 
child. It  was  claimed  that  if  this  logical  aspect  of 
Protestantism  was  correct,  it  ought  to  have  shown 
itself  finally  in  practical  historical  results.  And  the 
charge  was  made  that  what  thus  ought  to  have 


The  Question  Opened.  27 

followed  logically,  had  actually  followed  historically, 
and  was  patent  to  all  in  the  comparatively  empty 
churches  and  the  wide-spread  skepticism  of  thought- 
ful Germany,  America,  and  Switzerland.  This  was 
another  count."  * 

Dr.  Ewer  also  calls  "  the  Protestant  movement ' 
"  a  wide-spread  destruction  ;"  not  an  improver,  but  a 
deterioraterf  of  morals;  "not  a  reformation,  but  a 
deformation,  and  a  hideous  destruction." 

A  writer  in  the  "  Atlantic  Monthly,"  (October, 
1878,)  joins  in  this  arraignment  of  the  Churches. 
He  says  :  "  The  disintegration  of  religion  has  pro- 
ceeded rapidly.  .  .  .  The  Church  is  now,  for  the 
most  part,  a  depository  of  social  rather  than  relig- 
ious influences.  Its  chief  force  is  no  longer  relig- 
ious. There  are  still,  of  course,  many  religious 
people  in  the  Churches  who  sincerely  believe  the 
old  doctrines  embodied  in  all  the  creeds.  But 
these  are  every-where  a  small  minority,  and  they 
are  mournfully  conscious  that  the  old  religious  life 
and  power  have  departed  from  the  Church.  .  . 
They  are  alarmed  to  find  the  atmosphere  and  tone 
of  the  Church  becoming  more  and  more  secular  and 
business-like.  These  people,  who  thus  represent 
the  better  elements  of  a  former  state  of  things,  are 
the  real  strength  of  the  evangelical  Protestant 
Churches,  so  far  as  religion  is  concerned,  and  their 

*  "  Complete  Preacher,"  June,  1878.  p.  145. 

t  "Complete  Preacher,"  July,  1878,  pp.  223,  224. 


28        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

character  is  one  of  the  most  wholesome  and  truly 
conservative  forces  of  our  national  life.   .  But 

they  are  too  few  to  regenerate  the  American 
Church,  though  their  influence  is  highly  valuable  in 
resisting  some  of  the  evil  tendencies  of  the  age. 
Most  of  them  are  old,  and  they  have  few  successors 
among  the  younger  people.  They  have  already 
done  most  of  their  work,  and  their  number  and 
strength  diminish  from  year  to  year." 

"  The  morality  based  upon  the  religion  popularly 
professed  has,  to  a  fatal  extent,  broken  down. 
Multitudes  of  men  who  are  religious  are  not  honest 
or  trustworthy.  They  declare  themselves  fit  for 
heaven,  but  they  will  not  tell  the  truth,  or  deal 
justly  with  their  neighbors.  The  money  of  widows 
and  orphans  placed  under  their  control  is  not  safer 
than  in  the  hands  of  highwaymen.  There  is  no 
article  of  food,  medicine,  or  traffic,  which  can  be 
profitably  adulterated  or  injuriously  manipulated, 
that  is  not,  in  most  of  the  great  centers  of  trade, 
thus  corrupted  and  sold  by  prominent  members  of 
Christian  Churches." 

One  of  the  boldest  of  these  gloomy  utterances  is 
that  of  Professor  Goldwin  Smith,  who,  in  a  thought- 
ful article,  in  the  "Atlantic  Monthly,"  for  Novem- 
bei,  1879,  discoursed  upon  "The  Prospect  of  a  Moral 
Interregnum,"  consequent  upon  the  supposed  de- 
cadence of  religious  faith.     He  said  : 

"  A  collapse  of  religious  belief,  of  the  most  com- 


The  Question  Opened.  29 

plete  and  tremendous  kind,  is  apparently  now  at 
hand.  At  the  time  of  the  Reformation  the  ques- 
tion was,  after  all,  only  about  the  form  of  Christian- 
ity; and  even  the  skeptics  of  the  last  century,  while 
they  rejected  Christ,  remained  firm  theists;  not  only 
so,  but  they  mechanically  retained  the  main  princi- 
ples of  Christian  morality,  as  we  see  plainly  in 
Rousseau's  '  Vicaire,'  '  Savoyard,'  and  Voltaire's 
'  Letters  on  the  Quakers.'  Very  different  is  the 
crisis  at  which  we  have  now  arrived.  No  one  who 
has  watched  the  progress  of  discussion,  and  the  in- 
dications of  opinion  in  literature  and  in  social  inter- 
course, can  doubt  that,  in  the  minds  of  those  whose 
views  are  likely  to  become— and  in  an  age  when  all 
thought  is  rapidly  popularized  sure  to  become— 
the  views  of  society  at  large,  belief  in  Christianity 
as  a  revealed  and  supernatural  religion  has  given 
way.  .  .  . 

"All  English  literature,  even  that  which  is  so- 
cially and  politically  most  conservative,  teems  with 
evidences  of  a  change  of  sentiment,  the  rapid 
strides  of  which  astonish  those  who  revisit  En- 
gland at  short  intervals.  .  .  .  There  is  perhaps  an 
increase  of  church-building  and  church-going,  but 
the  crust  of  outward  piety  is  hollow,  and  growing 
hollo wer  every  day." 

From  such  assumed  premises  Mr.  Smith  pro- 
ceeds to  prognosticate  the  disastrous  "  effects  of 
this  revolution  on  morality." 


30        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Mr.  James  Anthony  Froude,  in  the  "North  Amer- 
ican Review,"  December,  1879,  treats  Protestantism 
as  an  exhausted  factor:  "Protestantism  has  failed. 
It  is  a  hard  saying.  Protestantism,  when  it  began, 
was  a  revolt  against  lies.  It  was  a  fierce  declara- 
tion that  men  would  no  longer  pretend  to  believe 
what  in  their  hearts  they  did  not  and  could  not  be- 
lieve. In  this  sense  Protestantism  has  not  failed, 
and  can  never  fail,  as  long  as  there  is  left  an  honest 
man  upon  the  globe.  But  we  cannot  live  upon  ne- 
gations; but  we  must  have  convictions  of  a  positive 
sort,  if  our  voyage  through  earthly  existence  is  to 
be  an  honorable  and  successful  one.  And  no  Prot- 
estant community  has  ever  succeeded  in  laying 
down  a  chart  of  human  life  with  any  definite  sailing 
directions.  In  every  corner  of  the  world  there  is 
the  same  phenomenon  of  the  decay  of  established 
religions.  In  Catholic  countries  as  well  as  Protest- 
ant ;  nay,  among  Mohammedans,  Jews,  Buddhists, 
Brahmans,  traditionary  creeds  are  losing  their  hold. 
An  intellectual  revolution  is  sweeping  over  the 
world,  breaking  down  established  opinions,  dissolv- 
ing foundations  on  which  historical  faiths  have  been 
built  up.  Science,  history,  philosophy  have  con- 
trived to  create  universal  uncertainty."  Neverthe- 
less, he  adds,  "  Christianity  retains  a  powerful  hold, 
especially  over  the  Anglo-Saxon  race." 

In  the  "Independent  "  of  October  5,  1893,  that  dis- 
tinguished evangelist,  Mr.  Dwight  L.  Moody,  gave 


The  Question  Opened.  31 

expression  to  very  pronounced  premillenarian  theo- 
ries. He  said  tliat  "  Every  one  not  blinded  by 
prejudice"  must  see  what  facts  make  plain,  and  the 
Scriptures  declare  that  we  are  "  in  the  last  days  " 
when  "  perilous  times  shall  come,"  and  that  "there 
is  every  indication  that  the  present  dispensation 
will  end  in  a  great  smash  up ;  but  I  believe  that  out 
of  that  smash  up  the  most  glorious  age  in  the  world's 
history  will  come.  So  I  look  into  the  future,  not 
with  despair,  but  with  unbounded  delight." 

The  theoiy  that  a  "smash  up"  is  imminent  is 
predicated  on  the  ground  that  the  world  is  morally 
and  religiously  deteriorating,  and  so  rapidly  grow- 
ing worse  as  to  cause  apprehension  that  a  perilous 
conflict  is  at  hand,  between  right  and  wrong,  tran- 
scending in  magnitude  and  incisiveness  any  thing 
heretofore  known — a  theory  claimed  to  be  supported 
by  certain  Scripture  prophecies  which,  in  the  esti- 
mation of  the  wisest  biblical  students,  are  fancifully 
interpreted  by  these  advocates. 

One  of  the  latest  allegations  comes  from  those 
who,  assuming  certain  social,  civil,  and  economic 
theories,  radically  speculative  and  Utopian,  and 
which  at  best  are  crude,  tentative,  and  quite  certain 
to  be  soon  modified  or  wholly  abandoned,  arraign 
Christianity,  because  it  has  not  yet  met  their  self- 
assumed  conditions ;  and  hence  they  loudly  pro- 
claim that  Christianity  has  exhausted  her  energies, 
has  ceased  to  be  a  working  force,  and  after  many 


32        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

vain  struggles  has  demonstrated  her  incompetency 
to  meet  the  world's  needs. 

Such  are  the  complaints  against  Christianity  and 
modern  society. 

In  meeting  the  aforesaid  allegations,  the  method 
of  investigation  adopted  by  the  author  is,  first,  to 
make  a  careful,  discriminating  analysis  of  the  last 
few  centuries,  and  especially  of  the  present  century, 
with  a  view  to  discover  the  intellectual,  moral,  and 
religious  trend  of  the  times,  as  indicated  by  well- 
attested  facts.  After  that  the  statistical  exhibits 
will  be  introduced.  Special  attention  will  be  given 
to  the  darker  phases  of  society  connected  with 
pauperism,  crime,  anarchism,  etc. ;  and  also  to  the 
multiplying  evidences  that  Christianity  is  more  and 
more  penetrating  the  world's  consciousness  and  life 
and  demonstrating  her  efficiency  as  a  regenerating 
and  uplifting  power  among  the  nations. 


THE    PROBLEM 


The  Problem.  35 


THE  PROBLEM. 

IT  is  an  important  preliminary  inquiry,  What  is 
comprised  under  the  term  Protestantism  ?  and 
what  does  Protestantism  claim  ? 

In  the  foregoing  arraignment  we  find  two  com- 
plex and  widely  divergent  parties — on  the  one  hand, 
Romanists  and  men  of  Romanizing  tendencies;  and 
on  the  other  thinkers,  who  stand  avowedly  outside 
of  Christianity,  and  those  who,  under  the  more 
indefinite  name  of  "  Liberal  Christianity,"  maintain 
an  attitude  of  criticism  toward  the  generally  ac- 
cepted Protestant  theology.  And  yet  the  latter 
portion  of  both  of  these  classes  are  connected  with 
denominations,  which,  in  the  broad  sense  of  the 
term,  are  Protestant.  In  the  course  of  modern 
progress,  the  term  Protestant  has  undergone  some 
modification  in  its  common  use,  although  it  still 
stands,  historically,  as  the  name  given  to  all  bodies 
of  Christians  which  have  sprung  up  out  of  the 
Reformation—"  the  totality  of  the  Churches  which 
separated  from  the  Romish  communion."  It  also 
embraces  those  secondary  protests  against  original 
Protestantism,  such  as  Quakerism — a  protest  against 
its  ordinances ;  Arminianism — a  protest  against  its 
Calvinism;   Methodism— a  protest  against  its  Cal- 


36        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

vinism  and  its  formalism  ;  and  "  Liberal  Christian- 
ity " — a  protest  against  its  Trinitarian  and  sacrificial 
theology.  But  these  are  only  the  subordinate  di- 
visions of  the  great  Protestant  body,  now,  as  ever, 
maintaining  an  unfaltering  protest  against  the  hier- 
archical prerogatives  and  exclusive  functions  of  Ro- 
manism, which  constituted  the  leading  issues  ol  the 
Reformation. 

In  its  broadest  definition,  then,  and  as  the  term 
is  used  by  Dr.  Ewer  and  the  Romanists,  Protest- 
antism embraces  all  avowedly  Christian  bodies  out- 
side of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  Jews  and 
Mormons,  professedly  rejecting  Christianity,  are  ex- 
cluded ;  and  Universalists,  Unitarians,  Christians, 
etc.,  are  included.  The  tendencies  of  modern  re- 
ligious thought,  regarded  by  Dr.  Ewer  and  others 
as  so  baleful,  and  as  logically  and  historically  the 
outgrowth  of  Protestantism,  necessitates  such  an 
inclusion  of  the  "  Liberal "  Churches.  We  accept 
this  definition,  and  shall  adhere  to  it,  so  far  as  pos- 
sible, in  this  volume  ;  but  a  narrower  definition  will 
sometimes  be  necessary,  restricting  the  term  Prot- 
estantism to  those  Churches  distinctively  holding  the 
sacrificial  and  Trinitarian  theology,  which  gave  vital 
impulse  and  moral  unity  to  the  Reformation,  and 
which  even  now  identifies  them  with  that  period. 
The  reason  for  this  is  twofold :  firstly,  the  scanty 
statistics  published  in  the  "Year-books"  of  the 
•*  Liberal"  Churches,  entirely  omitting  many  items 


The  Problem.  37 

furnished  in  the  "Annual  Minutes"  of  the  Evangel- 
ical or  Orthodox  Churches,  make  it  impossible  to 
carry  out,  at  many  points,  on  the  broader  defini- 
tion, comparisons  which  are  important  in  testing 
the  questions  of  progress,  spiritual  vitality,  etc. ; 
and,  secondly,  because,  in  the  foregoing  indict- 
ments, eminent  representatives  of  "  Liberal "  relig- 
ion have  sharply  arraigned  the  "  Evangelical  " 
Churches,  and  made  heavy  allegations  of  their  de- 
cline, decrepitude,  disintegration,  and  decay. 

We  have  seriously  pondered  the  foregoing 
charges,  scrupulously  scrutinizing  the  tendencies 
of  the  times,  collating  exact  data,  reviewing  the 
origin  and  progress  of  Protestantism,  internally  and 
externally,  and  its  relation  to  Christianity,  as  a 
whole,  in  its  entire  history,  and  are  fully  convinced 
that  the  foregoing  indictment  is  both  faulty  and 
false  ;  that  it  is  predicated  upon  wrong  assumptions 
as  to  the  genius  and  mission  of  Protestantism  ;  that 
many  of  the  assumed  facts  are  only  hasty  and  un- 
discriminating  collections  of  the  most  meager  data, 
many  well-attested  facts  and  statistics  being  wholly 
overlooked  and  ignored. 

That  part  of  the  indictment  which  comes  from 
Romanists  and  Romanizing  Ritualists  implies  that 
the  Christian  religion  has  had  a  perfect  ideal  devel- 
opment in  the  Church  on  the  earth  ;  that  this  de- 
velopment existed  at  some  time  in  the  past ;  that 
the  aim  of  the  modern  Church  should  be  to  attain  to 


38        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

the  ancient  ideal  ;  and  that  there  can  be  no  future 
unfolding  of  any  thing  richer  or  deeper  in  the  spirit, 
the  import,  or  the  power  of  Christianity,  because 
the  fullness  of  its  meaning  was  exhausted  long  ago. 
It  also  supposes  that  Protestantism  has  claimed  and 
still  professes  to  be  a  finality — the  perfect  ideal  of 
Christian  life  and  experience,  the  last  and  perfect 
word  of  truth — an  assumption  not  only  false  but 
impossible.  Protestantism  claims  the  holy  Script- 
ures as  the  complete  and  final  word  of  religious 
truth,  though  not  of  all  truth,  but  that  new  and 
deeper  discoveries  of  their  meaning  and  power  will 
be  wrought  out  by  the  progressive  studies  and  ex- 
perience of  the  Church.  An  early  representative 
of  Protestantism,  Rev.  John  Robinson,  of  Leyden, 
said:  "I  am  confident  that  the  Lord  has  more 
truth  and  light  yet  to  break  forth  out  of  his  holy 
word." 

Protestantism  has  ever  been  conscious  of  imper- 
fections and  weaknesses,  making  necessary  some 
kind  of  siftings,  modifications,  and  restatements, 
that  it  may  be  purged  from  unreasonable  and 
unscriptural  features,  from  relics  of  Popery  and 
mediaeval  civilization,  to  say  nothing  of  the  ages 
anterior;  and  that  its  life  has  been  a  growth,  an 
evolution,  in  which,  notwithstanding  some  pain- 
ful deformities,  it  is  steadily  attaining,  in  its  actual 
life  and  workings,  fuller  realizations  of  the  ideal  of 
Christianity  presented  in  the  holy  Scriptures. 


The  Problem.  39 

Protestantism  has  been  doing  its  work  under 
great  disadvantages,  under  sudden  and  radical 
changes  of  conditions.  As  a  reformation  and  re- 
volt against  old  errors,  it  has  had  extremes,  reac- 
tions, and  other  incidental  evils.  Doubts,  disor- 
ders, and  experiments  are  inevitable  in  such  proc- 
esses. The  work  of  modification  and  restatement, 
gradually  going  on  in  connection  with  the  advance- 
ment of  general  intelligence,  has  been  a  task  of  the 
most  delicate  and  difficult  character,  sorely  testing 
the  highest  wisdom,  stability  and  piety  of  its  adher- 
ents, and  also  its  hold  upon  the  confidence  and 
respect  of  the  masses.  But  this  is  not  all.  In  its 
divorce  from  the  State,  in  the  United  States,  and 
in  some  European  countries,  it  lost  the  advantage 
of  prestige  and  influence  over  the  popular  mind, 
which  the  State  afforded,  and  was  cast  upon  fluctu- 
ating outward  sources  of  voluntary  support.  Hence 
the  natural  inquiry,  whether  it  could  maintain  its 
influence  with  the  masses. 

But  another  and  still  more  important  element 
has  entered  into  the  case — the  Protestant  religion 
considered  as  internal  spiritual  exercises  between 
the  individual  and  his  God,  with  no  priestly  or  hier- 
archical dependence.  Under  Protestantism,  relig- 
ion became  purely  a  personal  thing,  passing  out 
from  under  the  exclusive  control  of  the  sacraments, 
and  the  arbitrary  sway  of  assumed  prerogatives, 
into  irrepressible  conflicts  with  individual  lusts  and 


40        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

worldly  influences.  Instead  of  pompous  rituals, 
each  soul  was  thrown  upon  its  God  and  the  deep 
realities  of  its  inner  life.  The  scourge  of  the  hie- 
rarchy disappeared,  but  the  struggle  with  sense  and 
self  went  on.  Still  recognizing  the  validity  of  the 
Church,  as  a  divinely  instituted  body- -a  brother 
hood  and  a  guide — Protestantism  pressed  with  pow- 
erful tenacity  upon  each  individual  the  fact  of  his 
personal  responsibility ;  that  he  must  bear  the  weight 
of  his  own  guilt  to  the  foot  of  the  cross ;  that  he 
must  seek  within  himself  and  for  himself  access  to 
God,  and,  in  the  spirit  of  adoption  begotten  by  the 
Holy  Ghost,  find  a  satisfaction  which  will  meet  the 
soul's  deepest  needs.  Since  its  primitive  days,  ex- 
cept among  small  groups,  Christianity  had  not  ex- 
isted under  such  conditions. 

What  was  to  be  the  effect  of  these  new  religious 
conditions  among  large  masses  of  people  ?  It  was 
predicted  that  religion,  wholly  dependent  upon  the 
fluctuations  of  individual  affections,  and  the  vacil- 
lations of  individual  wills,  would  be  characterized 
by  inconstancy  and  alternations,  until  its  influence 
would  be  utterly  wasted.  In  Europe,  Protestantism 
has  been  tested  only  under  the  latter  conditions, 
the  voluntary  spiritual  action  being  supplemented 
by  the  support  of  the  State.  Such,  too,  was  the 
situation  of  American  Protestantism  during  the 
colonial  era ;  but  after  the  Revolution  the  civil 
bands  were  sundered,  and  it  adjusted  itself  to  whol- 


The  Problem.  41 

ly  voluntary  conditions,  externally  and  internally, 
and  has  undergone  the  trial  of  the  transition,  and 
the  operation  of  the  voluntary  principle  in  its  full 
measure. 

There  has  been  still  another  source  of  trial.  These 
capricious  and  fluctuating  voluntary  sources  of  sup- 
port have  been  tested  in  a  country  which  every- 
where yields  to  the  supremacy  of  public  opinion. 
We  have  passed  out  from  under  the  tutelage  of 
authority,  and  a  new  power,  until  late  years  little 
known,  has  risen  up.  exercising  supreme  sway — even 
the  functions  of  empire.  With  vast,  complicated, 
religious,  moral,  educational,  social,  and  political 
interests,  our  young  nation  ventured  upon  its  career 
under  the  supreme  guidance  of  public  opinion. 
Nothing  is  more  irresponsible,  or  liable  to  be  more 
capricious  and  destructive;  and  yet,  in  these  un- 
steady hands  are  such  great  interests  held. 

How  experimental  and  perilous,  in  the  judgment 
of  many,  the  task  of  Protestantism,  under  these 
new  conditions !  Those  most  sanguine  of  its  success 
have  expected  vacillations,  reactions,  disorders,  and 
even  much  decay.  They  are  incidental  and  inevi- 
table, necessary  to  her  life  and  higher  development. 
Those  who  have  written  this  terrible  indictment 
against  Protestantism  do  not  correctly  apprehend 
the  case.  No  paralysis  has  come  upon  her,  nor  are 
there  any  indications  of  dissolution,  as  will  be  fully 
demonstrated,  but  the  best  symptoms  of  life  and 


42        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

progress.  The  struggles  of  Protestantism  are  only 
the  normal  contests  of  the  vital  forces,  expelling 
from  the  system  disorders  inherited  from  Rome, 
whose  deadly  taint  has  long  disfigured  and  embar- 
rassed her :  and  the  evidences  of  decay,  which  some 
see,  are  only  the  devitalized  elements,  which  vigor- 
ous life  throws  off,  in  its  higher  advances. 

Opening  wide  our  eyes,  and  wisely  interpreting 
the  signs  of  the  times,  in  the  light  of  the  whole  his- 
tory of  Christianity,  we  see  indications,  in  the  con- 
dition and  progress  of  American  Protestantism, 
which  convey  encouraging  lessons.  The  past  eighty 
years ;  at  farthest,  the  past  century ;  and,  in  some 
respects,  the  past  forty  years,  have  been  distin- 
guished by  a  most  rapid  and  marked  development, 
in  the  actual  life  and  workings  of  the  Protestant 
Churches  in  the  United  States,  of  the  true  ideal 
of  Christianity,  which  during  long  centuries  was 
almost  wholly  lost  out  of  the  world.  In  no  other 
period,  if  we  except  the  brief  period  following  the 
day  of  Pentecost — and  possibly  that  should  not  be 
excepted — have  the  past  ninety  years  been  equaled, 
much  less  excelled. 

Viewed  in  this  light,  every  thing  will  be  clear,  al- 
though all  is  not  perfect.  Protestantism  wears,  foi 
its  mottot  he  language  of  St.  Paul,  "  Not  as  though 
I  had  already  attained,  or  were  already  perfect ;  but 
I  follow  after,  that  I  may  apprehend  that,  for  which 
1  am  apprehended  in  Christ  Jesus." 


The  Problem.  43 

To  understand  our  times,  and  to  meet  the  re- 
sponsibilities, call  for  the  clearest  vision,  the  broad- 
est analyses,  the  amplest  resources,  prepared  hearts, 
and  the  best  manhood.  No  hasty  deductions  by  bi- 
ased minds,  from  narrow  generalizations  and  scanty 
data,  can  determine  the  situation.  No  personal  ill- 
success,  or  ill-adjustment  to  our  surroundings,  or 
cramped  routine  perspective,  should  color  the  judg- 
ment and  inspire  evil  prognostications.  To  the 
high  mount  of  broad  observation,  then,  we  betake 
ourselves,  to  study  the  tendencies  and  prospects 
of  the  times. 

One  feature  of  our  times  is  entirely  new,  and, 
therefore,  experimental.  Great  and  sacred  ques- 
tions are  brought  into  the  arena  of  public  investiga- 
tion. Never  before  were  the  people  expected  to 
have  an  independent  opinion  about  such  matters. 
The  common  soil  of  humanity  *  for  the  first"  time  in 
all  the  ages  is  surveyed,  plowed,  and  sown.  The 
problem  now  pending  is  whether  more  of  wheat  or 
of  tares  will  be  harvested ;  whether,  in  the  end,  it 
will  be  productive  of  more  of  faith  or  of  doubt,  of 
genuine  piety  or  ungodliness.  In  the  United  States, 
unlike  the  older  countries,  there  are  no  conserving 
forces  in  the  constitution  of  society,  holding  men 
to  the  old  faiths — no  old  institutions,  hereditary 
nobilities,  State  Churches,  etc. ;  but  every  thing  is 
new — communities,  governments,  and  institutions, 

*  "  Christianity  and  Modern  Thought,"  p.  17. 


44        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

and  any  number  of  new  projects,  trial  schemes,  and 
prophecies  of  newer  and  stranger  things  to  come. 
All  things  stimulate  to  theorizing.  The  new  is  held 
at  a  high  premium,  and  the  old  at  a  heavy  deprecia- 
tion. In  such  times  men  find  it  easy  to  break  away 
from  old  morals  and  old  faiths,  and  a  supernatural 
system  like  Christianity  undergoes  searching  ex- 
amination. Every  thing,  however  spiritual,  is  sub- 
jected to  natural  tests.  The  revolutionizing  tend- 
ency of  the  times  has  invaded  every  department  of 
thought  and  action.  Thought  is  intense  and  bold. 
Principles,  institutions,  and  usages,  long  sacred  and 
venerable,  are  discarded  and  obsolete.  In  the  midst 
of  such  tendencies,  American  Christianity  has  been 
called  to  experience  a  severer  test  than  European 
Christianity,  with  its  old  institutions  environing  and 
sustaining  it,  but  we  shall  see  that  her  triumphs  are 
purer  and  grander. 

How  is  the  conflict  progressing,  and  what  are  the 
indications?  This  problem  is  our  appointed  task, 
and  waits  a  solution — a  solution,  which  we  believe 
is  radiant  with  hope  and  promise.  Let  us  advance 
and  see. 


I.    FAITH. 

— • — 

CHAPTER  I.* 
THE     BOISTDAG^E 

Spiritual  Despotism. 
Papal  Scholasticism. 
Protestant  Scholasticiom. 


1. -FAITH. 

♦ 
CHAPTER  I. 

BONDAGE. 

TT  is  charged  that  Protestantism  is  a  break  with 
-^ancient  faith  and  worship;  that  it  discards  an- 
chors and  moorings ;  that  it  is  logically  and  histor- 
ically the  generator  of  skepticism ;  that  the  Prot- 
estantism of  the  present  is  very  different  from  the 
Protestantism  of  the  past ;  that  its  numerous  modi- 
fications in  doctrine  and  life  indicate  its  rapid  dis- 
integrating tendencies;  that  it  has  become  "  a  miser- 
able raft,"  its  fragments  floating  apart  like  the  mere 
"flying  rack  of  the  heavens;"  and  that  "poor  rem- 
nants only  of  the  great  nations  are  clinging  to  its 
parted  and  broken  logs." 

That  Protestantism  was  the  leading  factor  in  those 
great  movements  which  burst  the  shackles  for  cent- 
uries restraining  freedom  of  thought,  and  that  it 
has  quickened  intellectual  activity  and  enlarged  its 
scope,  can  be  regarded  a  reproach  only  by  those 
who  still  loiter  among  the  murky  vapors  of  medi- 
aeval times.  Even  if  it  be  true,  as  Dr.  Ewer  declares, 
that  '•  it  stands  to-day  breast-deep  in  torrents  of 


48        Problem  of  Religious  Prociress. 

skepticism,"  it  is  creditable  to  it  to  be  able  thus  to 
stand ;  and,  through  the  severe  ordeals  of  external 
criticism  and  rigid  self-introspection,  to  endure  re- 
statements and  modifications,  not  only  without  loss 
of  essential  identity,  but  even  with  increased  vitality 
and  power. 

In  the  midst  of  the  scrutiny  and  conflicts  of  the 
centuries,  Protestantism  has  strengthened  itself, 
within  and  without ;  it  has  taken  possession  of 
"storm-driven  outposts;"  it  has  erected  "Eddy- 
stone  lights  where  surging  waves  of  doubt  are  ever 
breaking;"  it  has  established  "last  havens  of  stores 
and  comfort  for  adventurous  voyagers,  bewildered 
in  search  of  truth;"  and  has  extended  its  lines  to 
the  ends  of  the  earth.  In  future  pages,  the  truth 
of  these  declarations  will  be  demonstrated. 

That  Protestantism  has  been  able  to  advance  its 
position  amid  the  stormiest  seas  of  doubt  and  free 
inquiry,  and  grow  larger,  purer,  and  stronger,  is  its 
glory;  but  that  it  has  "let  loose"  these  "torrents 
of  skepticism,"  because  it  broke  away  from  the  ab- 
solutism of  Rome,  and  championed  spiritual  liberty, 
is  too  absurd  a  statement  to  come  from  a  divine 
of  high  standing  and  culture.  It  is  an  oft-exploded 
complaint,  that  the  Reformation  produced  the  skep- 
ticism of  the  eighteenth  century,  by  generating  the 
revolution  in  philosophy,  and,  through  that,  the 
infidelity  which  accompanied  it.  Of  that  disastrous 
result,  it  was  in  no  sense  the  cause. '  The  Reforma- 


Faith.  49 

tion  and  the  philosophical  revolution  were  both,  in 
themselves,  beneficent,  necessary  to  the  world's 
progress,  and  productive  of  irreligion  only  "  as  the 
cool  bracing  air  may  sometimes  produce  fever  in  a 
debilitated  body,  or  warmth  may  hasten  corruption 
in  a  corpse."  The  infecting  malarial  taint  was  spirit- 
ual despotism,  intrinsically  and  eternally  malignant. 

I'he  testimony  of  the  centuries  shows  that,  for 
the  origin  of  skepticism  and  its  fearful  ascendency 
in  the  last  century,  the  cause  of  causes  was  not  lib- 
erty in  any  form,  but  an  imbecile,  corrupt,  and  im- 
perious Church,  obtruding  itself  between  the  world 
and  God,  and  darkening  the  faith  of  the  nations. 
The  causes  were  "  practical  rather  than  speculative  ; 
more  moral  than  intellectual  ;  and  less  theological 
than  ecclesiastical.  The  religious  insurrection  of 
the  nations  was  political  and  social  rather  than  met- 
aphysical. The  revolt  was  less  from  Christianity 
than*  from  the  Church  ;  or,  at  least,  was  from  Chris- 
tianity because  of  the  (Romish)  Church."* 

Comparing  the  Protestantism  of  the  present  with 
that  of  the  past,  changes  are,  indeed,  apparent  in 
religious  sentiment,  in  technical  theology,  and  in 
the  practice  of  enforcing  religious  belief.  Theology 
is  less  scholastic  and  repulsive,  has  less  of  pagan 
adulteration,  has  been  lubricated  and  broadened,  and 
is  the  better  for  its  siftings.     Modern  thought  and 

*  The  Skeptical  Era  in  Modem  History,"  by  Rev.  T.  M. 
Post,  D.D.,  p.  257. 


50        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Protestant  theology  have  been  mutual  benefactors 
and  beneficiaries.  Religious  sentiment  is  less  su- 
perstitious and  more  intelligent,  is  less  actuated  by 
fear  and  more  by  knowledge,  lives  less  in  damps  and 
shadows  and  more  in  the  light,  and  has  become  less 
a  blind  impulse  and  more  a  law  written  in  the 
heart — at  once  a  passion  and  a  principle.  Creeds 
are  shorter,  but  broader,  deeper,  and  stronger  ; 
have  less  of  husk  and  more  of  kernel  ;  are  shedding 
the  devitalized  and  retaining  the  vital.  Stakes  and 
fagots  have  disappeared  ;  inquisitorial  tortures  have 
ceased ;  inquisitorial  examinations  are  giving  place 
to  friendly  utterance  of  mutual  belief;  and  faith  is 
no  longer  forced,  but  voluntary. 

All  this  is  as  it  should  be — not  the  shame  but 
the  glory  of  Protestantism.  But  this  gain  has  come 
through  peculiar  processes,  both  within  and  without 
— the  fruit  of  discipline. 

Protestantism  had  its  origin  at  a  time  wheil  tra- 
dition and  the  schoolmen,  sustained  by  the  terrors 
of  the  hierarchy,  had  dominated  Europe  for  centu- 
ries. Two  evils  were  rampant  in  the  world  of  mind 
— the  spirit  of  scholasticism,  tenacious  for  dialec- 
tical forms,  shaving  truth  with  tools  of  iron  logic,  to 
the  sacrifice  of  its  simplicity  and  purity,  and  dishon- 
oring it  with  human  subtleties  ;  and  the  spirit  of  dog- 
matism, which,  with  unrelenting  authority,  denied 
the  freedom  of  personal  convictions  and  enforced 
belief. 


Faith.  5 1 

Protestantism,  a  too  apt  pupil  in  the  school  of 
the  centuries,  inhaling  the  spirit  of  the  age,  started 
in   its  career   hampered   with   these  trammels.     It 
could  not,  at  once,  purify  the  superincumbent  air. 
nor  lift  itself  wholly  above  the  murky  vapors.     A 
revolt  against  the  hierarchy,  an  advocate  of  freedom, 
and  a  champion  of  independence,  early  Protestant- 
ism, nevertheless,  only  feebly  realized  what  liberty 
meant  and  what  gross  bondage  it  still  retained.     It 
brought  out  of  Romanism  the  spirit  of  dogmatism, 
and  the  devotion  to  truth  which  fired  its  zeal  against 
the  falsities  of  the  papacy  was  sometimes  betrayed 
into  a  spirit  of  persecution.     Husks  of  scholasticism 
were  still  retained,  as  seen  in  the  rigidly  drawn  and 
extended  theological  formularies  and  systems.    The 
iron  logic  of  the  reformers  followed  too  closely  in 
the  dialectical  lines  of  the  schoolmen,  cramping  into 
systems  of  human  devising,  and  perverting  by  hu- 
man subtleties,  truths  which  the  Great  Teacher  and 
his  apostles  presented  in  simpler  forms.     With  such 
a  legacy  of  evil  Protestantism  began  its  work,  and 
only  by  processes   of  severe   purging   could   it   be 
purified.     These  modifications  have  exposed  it  to 
the  charge  of  change  and  disintegration,  exciting 
alarm  in  some  minds. 

Are   these    allegations    and   apprehensions  well 
founded  ? 

Several  lines  of  inquiry  are  necessary  in  bringing 
this  subject  fully  before  us. 


52         Problem  of  Rkligious  Progress. 

How  zvas  Christian  truth  so  brought  into  bondage 
that  only  through  long,  stern  ordeals  could  it  be  de- 
livered ? 

Why  did  not  original  Protestantism  wholly  cast  off 
these  fetters  ? 

And,  What  factors  have  providentially  wrought 
with  Protestantism  for  its  deliverance  ? 

By  pursuing  these  inquiries,  we  shall  be  able  more 
intelligently  to  appreciate  the  present  situation  and 
tendencies.  We  shall  find  a  true  historic  answer  to 
the  unfounded  allegation  that  Protestantism  is  the 
generator  of  skepticism  ;  and  shall  also  perceive  that 
it  has  successfully  pursued  its  course,  and  been  de- 
veloped, purified,  extended,  and  strengthened,  in 
spite  of  all  infecting  and  antagonizing  forces. 

In  the  fifth  century  Christianity  conquered  pagan- 
ism, and  thenceforth  paganism,  in  turn,  enfeebled 
and  burdened  Christianity.  "  The  rites  of  the  Par- 
thenon passed  into  the  worship  of  the  Church  ;  the 
subtleties  of  the  academy  into  the  creed.  Similar 
trifles,  just  as  subtle,  interminable,  and  unprofitable, 
occupied  the  sharp  intellects  of  the  schoolmen.  At 
length  the  time  had  come  when  the  ban  en  philos- 
ophy, which  had  worn  so  many  shapes,  mingled  with 
so  many  creeds,  had  survived  empires,  religions,, 
races,  languages,  was  destined  to  fall.  Driven  from 
its  ancient  haunts,  it  had  taken  sanctuary  in  that 
Church  which  it  at  first  had  persecuted,  and,  like 
the  daring  fiends  of  the  poet, 


Faith.  53 

'  Placed  its  seat  next  to  the  seal  of  God, 
And  with  its  darkness  durst  aflfront  his  light.'  "  * 

The  scholastic  philosophy,  based  on  the  logic, 
ethics,  and  physics  of  Aristotle,  and  the  judgments 
and  decretals  of  the  Church,  and  fostered  by  the 
Church,  dominated  the  realms  of  human  thought 
through  the  long,  dark  mediaeval  period.  The 
schoolmen,  dialecticians,  mostly  theologians  and 
ecclesiastics,  constructed  out  of  the  philosophy 
of  Aristotle  an  armory  for  the  defense  of  the 
papacy,  whose  formularies  were  traps,  tricks,  and 
snares,  involving  the  unwary  in  subtleties.  Their 
schemes  of  casuistry  and  intellectual  legerdemain 
bejuggled  men  out  of  common-sense  beliefs  and 
into  the  acceptance  of  absurd  dogmas  uphold- 
ing the  papal  Church.  Around  the  intellect  of 
Europe,  Romanism  bound  the  chain  of  scholasti- 
cism, repressing  the  thought  and  faith  of  the 
nations. 

In  the  name  of  an  infallible  authority  conferred 
by  Heaven,  the  Church  applied  the  clamps  of  scho- 
lasticism to  all  science,  usurped  the  prerogatives  of 
all  truth,  put  all  minds  under  censorship,  and 
burned  men  as  quickly  for  new  theses  in  physical 
science,  medicine,  or  astronomy,  as  in  theology. 
"  Was  a  proposition  in  physics  or  metaphysics  to 
be  determined  ?  The  schoolmen  sent  you,  not  to 
analyze  the  thing ;  but  they  coerced  it  into  the 
*  Macaulay. 


54        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

categories  and  syllabus  of  the  subtle  Greek  ;  they 
put  it  into  the  strait-waistcoat  of  some  dialectic 
formula ;  they  put  it  upon  the  rack  and  torture  of 
syllogism  and  enthymeme  ;  and,  finally,  bound  it 
down  and  smothered  it  by  the  decrees  of  Councils 
and  the  bulls  of  Popes.  Was  the  inquirer  still  unsat 
isfied  ?  The  ponderous  names  of  a  Duns  Scotus, 
a  Thomas  Aquinas,  or  some  Seraphic  Doctor,  or 
some  Gregory  or  Innocent  or  Boniface,  were  made 
to  thunder  about  his  ears  with  the  technical  bar- 
barisms of  a  scholastic  jargon,  till,  overwhelmed 
and  confounded,  if  not  convinced,  he  was  glad  to 
be  silent,  especially  as  those  barbarisms  were  no 
mere  hruta  fulmina,  but  behind  them  was  bran- 
dished before  his  eyes  the  ultima  reason  of  spiritual 
despots — the  mightier  logic  of  imprisonment,  wheel, 
and  fagot."  * 

Ages  wore  away  under  such  processes,  excluding 
scientific  discovery  and  progress.  It  was  a  futile, 
fruitless  toil,  in  an  endless  circle,  "  an  endless  round 
of  sonorous  nothings."  Society  "  plodded  its  weary 
way  over  '  many  a  frozen,  many  a  fiery  Alp,'  mid 
rivers  of  inky  blackness,  in  endless  mazes  wander- 
ing, emulating,  in  its  bootless  and  ceaseless  toil,  the 
fabled  children  of  eternal  night,  till,  at  last,  emerg- 
ing from  its  dark  sojourn,  lo,  it  finds  itself  just 
where  it  started  weary  centuries  ago." 

♦See  "Skeptical  Era  in  Modern  History,"  by  Rev.  T.  M.  Post 
D.D.,  p.  72. 


Faith.  55 

Emancipation  from  such  a  bondage  was  a  neces- 
sity, and,  in  due  time,  a  certainty. 

A  quickening  conjuncture  of  great  events — the 
Revival  of  Letters,  the  Invention  of  Printing,  the 
Discover}'  of  America,  the  passage  round  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,  and  the  rapid  development  of  the 
power  of  the  municipaHties  and  the  burgher  class, 
preceded  and  prepared  the  way  for  the  Reforma- 
tion of  the  sixteenth  century.  Out  of  these  wide 
and  deeply  significant  movements  the  Reformation 
sprung;  and  to  their  influence,  stimulating  mental 
activity,  broadening  the  scope  of  human  thought, 
and  developing  intellectual  and  moral  independ- 
ence, and  not  to  the  Reformation  alone,  are  we  to 
attribute  the  first  advancement  in  philosophy,  and 
in  physical  science,  the  rise  of  skepticism,  etc.  The 
seeds  of  these  movements  were  widely  sown,  and 
germinated  in  the  general  quickening  which  started 
forth  the  Reformation.  Each,  springing  from  its 
peculiar  conditions,  had  nevertheless  points  in  com- 
mon in  their  inception  and  earlier  development, 
while  the  Reformation  soon  became  the  bold  im- 
pulse and  central  figure,  under  whose  leadership 
they  went  forth  on  their  mission. 

The  Revival  of  Learning  was  the  chief  cause  of 
the  Reformation,  but  many  causes  contributed  to 
the  Revival.  Feudalism  declined  ;  the  State  be- 
came consolidated  ;  cities  arose  ;  new  classes  of  free 
citizens  came  into  existence  ;   indu.strial  and  com- 


56         Problem  of  Religious  1'rogress. 

mercial  activities  increased,  producing  material 
prosperity  ;  and  with  competence  came  leisure  for 
the  adornment  of  life  with  the  arts  of  peace.  At 
the  same  time  there  grew  up  a  secular  form  of  cult- 
ure, as  distinguished  from  the  prevailing  religious 
and  scholastic  type.  From  1348  to  1502,  uni- 
versities were  founded  in  various  parts  of  the 
continent.  Dante,  Petrarch,  and  Boccaccio  wrote, 
extolling  force  and  beauty,  the  manly  courage  of 
severe  contests,  the  delicate  sentiments  of  love, 
the  fervor  of  devotion,  the  nobility  of  loyalty,  the 
ignominy  of  treason — stirring  every  natural  and 
moral  feeling. 

This  humane  culture  awakened  an  interest  in  an- 
cient poetry  and  in  ancient  conceptions  of  the  world. 
New  desires  for  art  and  literature  followed,  and  the 
social  life  of  the  rising  burgher  class,  and  of  the 
noble  families  who  had  attained  to  wealth  and 
power,  provided  the  taste,  the  leisure,  and  the 
means  for  resuscitating  the  remains  of  ancient  cult- 
ure. First,  Roman  literature  was  explored  anew  ; 
then  the  Greek  classics.  Greece  was  visited,  and 
her  "  muses  would  have  been  brought  to  Italy  if 
they  had  not  soon  fled  thither  for  refuge."  Greek 
scholars  came  to  Italy  before  the  capture  of  Con- 
stantinople by  the  Turks,  in  1453  ;  but  that  great 
event  drove  thither  numerous  Greek  refugees,  rich 
in  hterary  treasures,  and  the  Halls  of  the  Medici 
received  them  as  apostles.     Convents  brought  forth 


Faith.  57 

their  resources ;  antiquity  had  a  resurrection  ;  and 
youth  from  Western  Europe,  Germany,  and  Hun- 
gary crossed  the  Alps  to  study  the  ancient  classics. 

This  movement  marked  a  new  era  in  culture  ;  the 
Church  was  to  be  no  longer  the  sole  instructor ;  a 
wider  horizon  was  to  open  over  the  human  intellect, 
and  scholasticism  was  destined  to  wane.  "  The  Fa- 
thers," hitherto  for  centuries  read  only  in  frag- 
ments, convenient  for  the  use  of  the  dialectician, 
were  brought  forth  from  their  long  obscurity ;  and 
the  Scriptures,  in  the  original  tongue,  once  more 
served  as  the  touchstone  of  truth.  Printing  facili- 
tated the  multiplication  of  books,  and  helped  the 
spreading  ferment.  Little  resistance  was  offered, 
for  the  new  era,  at  first  intent  upon  antiquities, 
projected  no  new  theories.  And  yet,  out  of  the 
antiquities  with  which  Italy  and  even  the  Papal 
court  were  then  captivated,  important  changes 
were  to  come.  Through  this  channel  were  intro- 
duced into  the  West  the  Platonic,  the  Neopla- 
tonic,  the  Epicurean,  and  Stoical  philosophies, 
whose  temporary  mission,  in  the  transitional  period 
of  philosophy  then  opening,  was  to  supplant  the 
Scholastic-Aristotelian  method,  and  whose  residu- 
um, in  the  ages  beyond,  was  a  legacy  of  skepticism, 
harassing  the  faith  of  Protestantism. 

This  Revival  of  Learning  was  the  instaurator  of 
new  ideas  and  movements. 

In  the  midst  of  this  period,  Protestantism,  the 


58        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

most  conspicuous  of  all  modern  movements,  had  its 
birth,  ushering  in  a  new  and  better  religious  life, 
but  inheriting  taints  which  only  long  and  stern  dis- 
cipline could  purge  away. 

"  Side  by  side,"  says  Ueberweg,  "  with  this  re- 
turn of  learned  culture  from  scholasticism  to  the 
early  Roman  and  Greek  literature  stands,  as  its 
analogue,  the  return  of  the  religious  consciousness 
from  the  doctrines  of  the  Catholic  Church  to  the 
letter  of  the  Bible.  .  .  .  Acknowledging  the  author- 
ity of  the  holy  Scriptures,  and  of  the  dogmas  of  the 
Church  in  its  earliest  days,  Protestantism  rejected 
the  mediaeval  hierarchy  and  the  scholastic  tendency 
to  rationalize  Christian  dogmas.  The  individual 
conscience  found  itself  in  conflict  with  the  way  of 
salvation  marked  out  by  the  Church.  By  this  way 
it  was  unable  to  attain  to  inward  peace  and  recon- 
ciliation with  God.  ...  In  the  first  heat  of  the  con- 
flict the  Reformers  regarded  the  head  of  the  Cath 
olic  Church  as  Antichrist,  and  Aristotle,  the  chief 
of  the  Catholic  school  philosophy,  as  a  '  godless 
bulwark  of  the  Papists.'  " 

The  logical  tendency  was  to  break  with  all  phi- 
losophy, and  adopt  a  simple,  unquestioning  faith. 
But  as  Protestantism  gained  "  fixed  consistence," 
the  necessity  of  some  determinate  order,  in  the  new 
ecclesiastical  condition,  pressed  upon  the  attention 
of  the  leaders.  Melanchthon  felt  the  need  of  some 
kind  of  philosophy.     He  found  the  Epicureans  too 


Faith.  59 

atheistic  ;  the  Stoics  too  fatalistic  in  theology  and 
extravagant  in  ethics ;  Plato  and  the  Neoplatonists 
"  either  too  indefinite  or  too  heretical ;  "  while  Ar- 
istotle, as  a  teacher  of  a  unique  method,  met  the 
needs  of  the  young.  Luther  consented  to  the  use 
of  the  text  of  Aristotle  if  uncumbered  by  scholastic 
comments,  "  There  arose  thus,"  says  Ueberweg, 
"  in  the  Protestant  universities,  a  new  Aristotelian- 
ism,  which  was  distinguished  from  scholasticism  by 
its  simplicity  and  freedom  from  empty  subtleties, 
but  which,  owing  to  the  necessity  of  modifying  the 
naturalistic  elements  in  the  Aristotelian  philosophy, 
and  especially  in  the  Aristotelian  psychology,  so  as 
to  make  them  harmonize  with  the  religious  faith, 
soon  became,  in  its  measure,  itself  scholastic.  The 
erection  of  a  new  independent  philosophy,  on  the 
basis  of  the  generalized  Protestant  principle,"  was, 
therefore,  a  necessity  ;  but  its  accomplishment  was 
reserved  for  a  later  time  and  other  hands. 

In  the  mean  time,  burdened  with  limitations  in- 
consistent with  its  fundamental  principle,  checking 
and  falsifying  its  movements,  Protestantism  pur- 
sued its  course,  slowly  and  imperfectly  developing 
and  waiting  the  concurrent  action  of  other  factors, 
which  should  fully  emancipate  it  from  scholasticism 
and  dogmatism,  and  invest  it  in  simple  forms,  in 
closer  harmony  with  the  original  ideal  of  pure 
Christianity.  Those  factors  have  wrought  along  the 
centuries,  ostensibly  a  work  of  criticism,  and  some- 


6o        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

times  of  destruction,  but,  under  Providence,  devel- 
oping those  modifying  tendencies  in  theological 
truth  so  conspicuous  in  our  days. 

What  were  these  factors  ? 

They  comprise,  in  their  fullest  scope,  the  great 
movements  of  modern  thought,  some  of  which  took 
their  origin  just  anterior  to  Protestantism,  others 
nearly  simultaneously  with  it,  and  others  still  soon 
after  Protestantism  started  upon  its  career.  Their 
mission  has  been  providential,  under  the  wise  over- 
rulings  of  "  Him  who  is  the  Head  over  all  things 
unto  his  Church,"  and  who  maketh  the  activities 
of  human  thought,  and  even  human  unbelief  and 
wrath,  to  subserve  his  beneficent  ends. 


CHAPTER  II. 
LIBERATING    FACTORS 

Modern  Skepticism. 
Physical  Science. 
Antitrinitarian    Protestantism. 
Modern   Philosophy. 


Faith.  63 


CHAPTER  II. 

LIBERATING    FACTORS. 

Modern  Skepticism. 

A  NCIENT  in  its  essence,  and  a  residuum  from 
•^^-  antemediaeval  times,  skepticism  first  appeared, 
in  modern  history,  springing  out  of  the  bosom  of 
Rome  just  prior  to  the  origin  of  Protestantism. 

A  new  philosophical  movement  was  one  of  the 
first  and  most  noticeable  developments  in  the  Re- 
vival of  Learning,  working  simultaneously  with  its 
earliest  beginnings,  both  as  a  factor  and  a  product, 
and  constituting  the  first  division  in  modern  philos- 
ophy— the  period  of  transition*  from  the  old  scho- 
lastic method,  of  mediaeval  dependence  upon  the 
Church  and  Aristotle,  to  the  beginning  of  the  new 
method,  of  original  and  independent  investigation, 
inaugurated  by  the  bold  genius  of  Descartes.  It 
was  an  era  of  change,  of  transfer,  of  partial  emanci- 
pation from  the  old,  with,  as  yet,  no  fully  developed 
system. 

This  movement  had  long  been  a  felt  necessity. 
As  early  as  the  eleventh  century,  and  through  the 
three   following   centuries,   the    spirit    of   freedom 

*  Ueberweg's  "  Division  of  the  Historic  Periods  of  Philosophy." 


64        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

struggled  in  Italian  minds,  and  champions  of  intel- 
lectual liberty  appeared.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
twelfth  century  "  a  numerous  and  powerful  school 
of  philosophers  labored  so  persistently  for  freedom 
of  thought  and  expression,  that  it  was  denounced 
by  the  Church  as  a  school  of  Epicureans  and 
Atheists."  * 

It  has  been  already  noticed  that  the  Revival  of 
Learning  introduced  the  Platonic  and  the  Neopla- 
tonic  philosophies  into  Italy.  Averroes,  a  commen- 
tator upon  Aristotle,  in  high  repute,  taught  that 
"  only  the  one  universal  reason  common  to  the  en- 
tire human  race  is  immortal,"  "  that  the  world-or- 
dering divine  mind  is  the  active  immortal  reason," 
and  denied  **  individual  immortality."  These  doc- 
trines prevailed  in  Northern  Ital)^  from  early  in  the 
fourteenth  to  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
and  in  the  school  of  Padua  they  were  prominent 
tenets  until  the  seventeenth  century,  though  in 
different  acceptations  at  different  times.  The  het- 
erodox elements  in  this  belief  were  made  prominent 
in  some  and  toned  down  by  others.  In  the  four- 
teenth century  Eckhart  taught  a  mystical  panthe- 
ism, and  in  the  fifteenth  century  the  antichristian 
and  pantheistic  system  of  Neoplatonism,  which  had 
been  developed  and  systematized  under  the  mold- 
ing influence    of   Plotinus,   Porphyry,   and    Julian, 

*  Prof.  Vincenzo  Botta,  D.D.     See  Ueberweg's  "  Philosophy,"  ii 
p.  461. 


Faith.  65 

prominent  opponents  of  Christianity  in  the  first 
Christian  centuries,  became  the  favorite  philosophy 
of  the  cultured  minds.  Many  made  an  easy  passage 
from  Averroism  to  Pantheism. 

Plethro,  (1355-1442,)  a  "passionate  Platonist  ;  " 
l^essarion,  (i 395-1472,)  a  moderate  Platonist;  and 
Marcilius  Ficinus,  (1433-1499,)  a  meritorious  trans- 
lator of  Plato,  Plotinus,  Porphyry,  and  other  Neo- 
platonists,  propounded  theses  which  have  been 
characterized  as  "  neither  Christian  nor  Moham- 
medan, but  Neoplatonic  and  heathen."  With  these 
men  there  arose  in  Italy  and  elsewhere  schools  ot 
ideal  Platonists,  tending  to  Deism  and  Natural- 
ism, and  a  class  of  Peripatetics,  sliding  into  ma- 
terialism and  skepticism.  Hallam  says,  "  There 
is  strong  ground  for  ascribing  a  rejection  of  Chris- 
tianity to  Plethro."  Ficinus  declared  there  was 
no  hope  for  religion  except  in  the  "  bolstering 
aid  of  the  Platonic  philosophy; "  Pomponatius, 
(died  1525,)  that  "Christianity  was  in  a  state  of 
obsolescence  and  decay,"  and  that  the  immortal- 
ity of  the  soul  is  doubtful  on  philosophic  princi- 
ples;  and  Machiavelli,  (1464-1527,)  that  the  high- 
est political  ends  can  be  obtained  without  the  aid 
of  the  Church  or  of  Christianity.  "  The  Platonic 
Academy  in  the  gardens  of  the  Medici,"  says 
Hase,*  "  defended  only  a  few  of  the  religious  ideas 

♦"Church    History,"  p.  328.      This   academy   was   established 
1440-1445. 


66        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

peculiar  to  Christianity."  "  Infidelity  and  super- 
stition were  arrayed  boldly  in  opposition  to  each 
other."  "  To  the  Italian  infidelity  of  this  period 
probably  belongs  the  authorship  of  the  book,  '  The 
Three  Impostors,*  (Moses,  Jesus,  and  Mohammed,) 
first  mentioned  in  the  sixteenth  century  ; "  *  also, 
the  "  Dialogue  Upon  Religion,"  between  "  seven 
learned  freethinkers  of  Venice,"  by  John  Bodin, 
(died  1597,)  in  which  all  religions  are  set  forth 
as  "  having  the  same  merits  and  defects,"  and 
"  ideal  deism  "  is  commended  as  the  **  true  re- 
ligion." f 

In  the  earlier  stages  of  this  movement,  the  new 
views  were  sometimes  accommodated  to  the  Church 
by  attempted  distinctions  between  philosophic  and 
theologic  truth,  and  by  a  profession  of  submis- 
sion to  the  Church.  The  Church  condemned  this 
view  of  the  twofold  nature  of  truth,  but  the  move- 
ment went  quietly  on  so  long  as  the  Church  was 
not  directly  antagonized. 

Thus  the  School,  of  Humanists,  enthusiastic  wor- 
shipers of  pagan  antiquity,  devoted  to  the  revival 
of  classical  study,  became  antagonistic  to  Christi- 
anity, and  it  was  quite  common  for  dignitaries  of 
the  Church,  in  the  circles  of  their  friends,  to  avow 
atheism.  Even  Pope  Leo  X.  was  credited  with  the 
remark,  regarded  as  credible  by  his  contemporaries, 
"  It  is  not  generally  known  how  much  we  and  ours 
♦  Kurtz's  "  Church  History,"  vol.  ii,  p.  159.  f  Ibid- 


Faith.  '^y 

have  been  profited  by  the  fable  of  Christ."  Oppo- 
nents of  Christian  belief  retained  their  positions, 
often  of  the  highest  rank,  in  the  Church. 

In  this  early  movement  in  the  quest  of  another 
philosophy,  we  see,  in  the  Romish  Church,  the  first 
outcroppings  of  European  skepticism  during  the 
century  before  Protestantism  arose.  "  The  Refor- 
mation," says  Professor  Fisher,  "is  not  responsible 
for  the  tendencies  to  skepticism  and  unbelief  which 
have  revealed  themselves  in  modern  society.  These 
tendencies  discovered  themselves  before  Protestant- 
ism appeared.  The  Renaissance  in  Italy  was  skep- 
tical in  its  spirit.  This  infidelity  sprang  up  in  the 
bosom  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  partly  as  a 
reaction  against  the  superstitious  doctrines  and 
practices  which  the  Church  countenanced,  partly 
from  the  Epicurean  lives  of  the  ecclesiastics,  and 
the  worldliness  which  had  corrupted  the  piety  of 
the  official  guardians  of  religion." 

Hallam,*  speaking  of  those  who  called  in  ques- 
tion the  "truths  of  natural  and. revealed  religion," 
says,  "  The  proofs  of  this  before  the  middle  of  the 
sixteenth  century  are  chiefly  to  be  derived  from 
Italy.  ...  If  we  limit  ourselves  to  those  who  di- 
rected their  attacks  against  Christianity,  it  must  be 
presumed  that,  in  an  age  when  the  tribunals  of 
justice  visited  even  with  the  punishment  of  death 
the  denial  of  any  fundamental  doctrine,  few  books 

*  Hallam's  "  Literature  of  the  Middle  Ages,"  vol.  i,  p.  288. 


68         Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

of  an  openly  irreligious  tendency  would  appear.  A 
short  pamphlet  by  one  Valine  cost  him  his  life  in 
1574.  .  .  .  The  list- of  men  suspected  of  infidelity, 
if  we  could  trust  all  private  anecdotes  of  the  time, 
would  be  by  no  means  short." 

Besides  the  Platonic  and  the  Neoplatonic,  other 
ancient  philosophies  were  renewed  in  this  transi- 
tional period.  Telsius  (i 508-1 588)  and  other  rela- 
tively independent  investigators  of  nature,  were 
considerably  influenced  by  the  doctrines  of  the  nat- 
ural philosophers  of  ancient  Greece.  Stoicism  was 
revived  and  developed  by  Lipsius,  (i 547-1606,)  and 
Epicureanism  by  Gassendi,  (i 592-1655.)  Ueber- 
weg  says,  "  Ancient  skepticism  was  revived,  and,  in 
part,  in  a  peculiar  manner  further  developed,  by 
Michel  de  Montaigne,"  (born  1503,)  and  "more  or 
less  directed  to  the  doctrines  of  Christianity."  Char- 
ron,  (i 541-1603,)  and  Sanchez,  (i 562-1632,)  a  teacher 
of  medicine  and  philosophy  in  France,  "  supported 
this  tendency."  Le  Vayer  (i  586-1672)  applied  the 
arguments  of  ancient  skeptics  to  theology,  and  had 
successors  among  his  pupils — Sorbiere,  (161 5-1670,) 
Foucher,  (1644-1696,)  Glanville,  (died  1680,)  Hern- 
haym,  (died  1670,)  Huet,  (1633-1721,)  and  Bayle, 
(1647-1706,)  the  latter  "breaking  the  pathway  oi 
a  mere  frivolous  unbelief."  Ueberweg  also  says, 
"  From  its  relation  to  the  investigation  of  nature, 
in  modern  times,  Gassendi's  renewal  of  Epicurean- 
ism is  of  far  greater  historical  importance  than  the 


Faith.  69 

renewal  of  any  other  ancient  system;"  and  F.  A. 
Lange  says,  "  Gassendi  is  the  one  who  may  proper- 
ly be  styled  the  renewer,  in  modern  times,  of  sys- 
tematic materialism." 

We  have  thus  traced  the  lines  of  modern  skepti- 
cism from  its  rise  out  of  the  revival  of  the  ancient 
philosophies,  through  phases  separate  from  the 
Reformation,  however  much  it  may  have  been  em- 
boldened, in  its  later  stages,  by  the  examples  of 
the  Reformers ;  and  have  reached  a  period,  on  the 
Continent,  parallel  with  that  of  Herbert,  (1581- 
1648,)  Hobbes,  (i 588-1679,)  Blount,  (1654-1693,) 
and  Sir  Thomas  Brown,  (1605-1682,)  the  earliest 
leaders  in  skeptical  thought  in  England. 

Such  was  the  origin  of  one  of  the  great  factors 
destined  to  exert  an  extensive  influence  upon  mod- 
ern thought  and  upon  theology.  Let  us  now  re- 
trace our  steps,  and  briefly  notice  the  rise  and  early 
progress  of 

Physical  science,  another  modifying  factor. 

The  mental  quickening  commenced  in  the  Re- 
vival of  Learning  soon  extended  to  all  the  sciences. 
The  superstitious  scholastic  methods,  by  which  the 
schoolmen  figured  out  with  equal  facility  the  popu- 
lation of  Saturn,  the  number  of  feathers  in  the  wings 
of  the  cherubim,  and  how  many  angels  could  stand 
on  the  point  of  a  needle,  could  not  meet  the  neces- 
sities of  awakened  thought  in  the  new  era.     It  must 


yo        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

have  more  rational  processes ;  but  the  true  process 
was  not  at  once  reached.  It  first  went  backward 
to  the  old  pagan  philosophies.  Dr.  Ueberweg, 
whose  competency  none  will  question,  shall  tell  the 
story. 

"  The  modern  mind,  dissatisfied  with  scholasti- 
cism, not  only  went  back  to  the  classical  literature 
of  antechristian  antiquity,  and  to  the  writings  con- 
stituting the  biblical  Revelation,  but,  setting  out 
from  the  sciences  of  antiquity,  also  directed  its  en- 
deavors, more  and  more,  to  independent  investiga- 
tion of  the  realities  of  nature  and  mind,  as  also  to 
the  problem  of  moral  self-determination,  independ- 
ently of  external  forms.  In  the  fields  of  mathe- 
matics, mechanics,  geography,  and  astronomy,  the 
science  and  speculation  of  the  ancients  were  first 
restored,  and  then,  partly  by  gradual  progress,  and 
partly  by  rapid  and  bold  discoveries,  materially  ex- 
tended. With  the  assured  results  of  investigation 
were  connected  manifold  and  largely  turbulent  at- 
tempts to  establish  on  the  basis  of  the  new  science 
new  theological  and  philosophical  conceptions,  in 
which  attempts  were  involved  germs  of  later  and 
more  mature  doctrines.  Physical  philosophy,  in 
the  transitional  period,  was  more  or  less  blended 
with  a  form  of  theosophy,  which  rested  at  first  upon 
the  foundation  of  Neoplatonism  and  the  Cabala, 
but  which  gradually,  and  especially  on  the  soil  of 
Protestantism,  attained  a  more  independent  chai- 


Faith.  71 

acter.  A  physical  philosophy  thus  blended  with 
theosophy,  not  yet  freed  from  scholastic  notions, 
nor  contradicting  the  affirmations  of  ecclesiastical 
theology,  and  yet  resting  on  the  new  basis  of  mathe- 
matical and  astronomical  studies,  was  maintained, 
about  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  by  Nico- 
laus  Cusanus,  (1401-1464,)  in  whom  the  mysticism 
of  Eckhart  (1260- 1327)  was  renewed,  and  from 
whence,  later,  Giordano  Bruno  (i 548-1600)  derived 
the  fundamental  features  of  his  own  bolder  and 
more  independent  doctrine.  Physics,  in  its  com- 
bination with  theosophy,  continued  to  be  taught, 
and  was  further  developed  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
and  also  in  the  seventeenth.  Among  its  professors 
were  Paracelsus,  (1493-1541,)  the  physician;  Car- 
danus,  (1501-1576,)  the  mathematician  and  astrolo- 
ger; Bernardinus  Telesius,  (1508-1588,)  the  founder 
of  the  Academia  Cosentina,  for  the  investigation 
of  nature,  and  his  followers,  Franciscus  Patritius, 
(i 529-1 597,)  the  Platonizing  opponent  of  Aristotle; 
Andreas  Caesalpinus,  (15 19-1603,)  the  Averroistic 
Aristotelian;  Nicolaus  Turxellius,  (1547-1606,)  the 
opponent  of  the  latter,  and  an  independent  German 
thinker;  Carolus  Borillus,  (1470-1553,)  a  supporter 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  a  disciple  of  Nicholaus 
of  Cusa,  (1401-1464);  Giordano  Bruno,  (1548-1600,) 
and  Lucilio  Vanini,  (i  585-1619,)  the  antiecclesias- 
tical  freethinkers;  and  Thomas  Campanella,  (1568- 
1639,)   the   Catholic   opponent    of  Aristotle.     The 


72        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

religious  element  prevailed  with  Schwenckfeldt  and 
Valentin  Weigl,  Protestant  theologians,  and  with 
Jacol)  Bohme,  the  tjieosophist,  among  whose  fol- 
lowers have  been  H.  Moore,  John  Pordage,  Pierre 
Poivel,  and,  in  more  modern  times,  St.  Martin,  and 
whose  principles  were  employed  by  Baader  and  by 
Shelling — by  the  latter  on  the  occasion  of  his  pass- 
ing over  from  physical  philosophy  to  theosophy. 
The  themes  of  law  and  civil  government  were  de- 
veloped in  an  independent  manner,  without  defer- 
ence to  Aristotelian  or  ecclesiastical  authority,  and 
in  a  form  more  adapted  to  the  changed  political 
conditions  of  modern  times.* 

Physical  science,  then,  in  its  early  modern  stages, 
was  hampered  with  the  embarrassments  incidental 
to  the  transitional  period  of  modern  philosophy — 
the  newly  revived  ancient  philosophy,  the  Cabala, 
the  remaining  influence  of  scholastic  methods,  and 
the  ecclesiastical  domination.  Beginning  before 
the  birth  of  Protestantism,  in  such  an  unnatural 
combination,  it  struggled  through  the  fifteenth  and 
sixteenth  centuries  into  the  seventeenth,  when  it 
received  a  new  impulse  under  the  independent 
method  of  original  investigation  promulgated  by 
Descartes,  and  became  another  of  the  modifying 
factors  in  the  progress  of  Protestantism. 

*  Ueberweg's  "  History  of  Philosophy,"  vol.  ii,  pp  19,  20. 


Faith.  73 

The  A  ntitrinitarian  theology,  a  residuum  from  the 
antemediceval  age,  restored  with  the  Revival  of  Learn- 
ing, has  been  another  providential  factor. 

Antitrinitarianism  has  been  incorrectly  regarded 
by  some  as  an  offspring  of  Protestantism,  because  a 
protest  against  Protestant  theology.  While  very 
many  of  those  representing  these  opinions  have 
been  dissenters  from  the  Trinitarian  and  sacrificial 
theology  of  Protestantism,  yet  it  is  not  strictly  true 
that  Antitrinitarianism  originated  in  the  Churches 
of  the  Reformation.  The  rise  of  these  ideas  ante- 
dates the  mediaeval  age.  The  Arian  doctrines  sur- 
vived that  dark  period,  and  reappeared  during  the 
Revival  of  Learning.  The  same  causes  that  pro- 
duced the  Reformation,  modern  skepticism,  and  the 
transition  in  philosophy  and  physical  science,  re- 
vived the  Arian  ideas  of  previous  centuries — a  part 
of  the  general  resurrection  of  ancient  knowledge. 

Nor  was  this  all.  Before  those  great  events  took 
place  which  gave  character  to  the  Reformation,  and 
determined  its  career,  even  in  the  midst  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  the  efforts  of  the  schoolmen  to  estab- 
lish, by  syllogistic  gins,  logical  technics,  and  tenu- 
ous sophisms,  the  Trinity  and  other  Church  doc- 
trines, invested  them  with  absurdity,  and  awakened 
revulsions.  The  scholastic  processes  proved  peril- 
ous. In  the  tenth  century  Arians  appeared  in  the 
Diocese  of  Padua,  a  district  of  northern  Italy.  In 
the   twelfth   century  Joachin,   an   Abbot   of  Flora, 


74        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

taught  that  the  union  of  the  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Spirit  was  not  a  natural  one,  not  one  of  es- 
sence, but  wholly  moral,  like  that  of  persons  hold- 
ing common  opinions.  In  the  thirteenth  century 
these  views  had  many  representatives.  During  the 
revival  of  the  Platonic  and  the  Neoplatonic  philos- 
ophies, prior  to  the  Reformation,  the  Trinity  came 
under  frequent  discussion,  in  various  speculative 
forms,  but  cautiously,  for  fear  of  the  Church.  The 
shocks  occasioned  by  the  collisions  of  thought,  in 
the  convulsive  moments  of  the  Reformation, 
brought  to  the  surface  the  dissent  which  the  scho- 
lastic methods  had  provoked. 

"  It  was  in  Italy,"  says  Professor  Fisher,  "  among 
the  cultured  class,  in  men  of  inquisitive  and  culti- 
vated minds,  that  the  Antitrinitarians  appeared. 
The  peculiar  tone  of  the  belles-lettres  culture  that 
followed  upon  the  Revival  of  Learning  was  often 
congenial  with  these  opinions.  There  was  a  dispo- 
sition to  examine  the  foundations  of  religion,  to  call 
in  question  the  traditional  doctrines  of  the  Church, 
and  to  sift  the  entire  creed  by  the  application  of 
reason  to  its  contents.  The  writings  of  Servetus 
(i  509-1 553)  doubtless  had  much  influence  in  diffus- 
ing Antitrinitarian  opinions  ;  but  most  of  the  con- 
spicuous Unitarians  who  first  appeared  were  of 
Italian  birth,  generally  exiles  from  their  country  on 
account  of  their  belief.  After  the  publication  of 
the  Antitrinitarian  work  of  Servetus,  in   1 531,  it  is 


Faith.  75 

said  that  not  less  than  forty  educated  men  in  Vi- 
cenza  and  the  neighborhood  were  united  in  a  private 
association,  all  of  whom  held  Unitarian  opinions. 
The  Unitarian  doctrines  were  found  in  the  Churches 
of  Italian  refugees  at  Geneva  and  at  Zurich." 

Hallam  says:*  "  It  is  certain  that  many  of  the 
Italian  reformers  held  Antitrinitarian  opinions, 
chiefly  of  the  Arian  form.  M'Crie  suggests  that 
these  had  been  derived  from  Servetus ;  but  it  does 
not  appear  that  they  had  any  acquaintance.  ...  It 
is  much  more  probable  that  their  tenets  originated 
among  themselves." 

These  views  are  confirmed  by  Mosheim,  who  says 
that  "  Socinian  writers  generally  trace  the  origin  of 
their  sect  to  Italy;"  and  Kurtz  also  says,  "Italy  was 
the  proper  home  of  the  rationalistic  denial  of  the  doc- 
trine (of  the  Trinity ;)  it  was  the  fruit  of  the  half- 
pagan  humanism  which  flourished  then."  Its  advo- 
cates, compelled  to  flee,  took  refuge  in  Switzerland; 
but,  being  persecuted  there,  and  banished,  they  went 
first  to  Germany,  thence  to  Poland,  Hungary,  and 
the  province  of  Transylvania,  where  princes  or  no- 
bles protected  them.  Blandrata,  Gentilis,  Alciati, 
Grimbaldi,  Claudius  of  Savoy,  and  Tellius,  early 
disseminators  of  Antitrinitarian  ideas,  and  some  of 
them  martyrs,  and  Laelius  and  Faustus  Socinus, 
from  whom  the  Socinian  scheme  took  its  name, 
were  all  from  Italy — the  fruitage   of  the   Neopla- 

*  Hallam's  "  Literature  of  the  Middle  Ages,"  irol.  i,  p.  196. 


•j^        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

tonic  movement — and  were  all  of  them  born  be- 
tween 1475  and  1540,  and  all  but  one  prior  to  1520 
The  Socinii  were  descendants  from  an  illustrious 
family  of  Sienna. 

Almost  simultaneously  with  the  first  movements 
of  Luther,  and  doubtless  mainly  out  of  the  general 
quickening  given  by  the  Revival  of  Learning,  there* 
arose  in  different  parts  of  central  and  northern  Eu- 
rope various  sects  of  Reformers,  several  classes  of 
whom  received  the  designation  of  Anabaptists.  In 
1 52 1,  within  four  years  of  Luther's  bold  theses  on 
the  church  door  in  Wittenberg,  they  were  known 
as  distinct  bodies,  under  fiery  leaders,  among  whom 
we  find  Antitrinitarian  opinions.  The  Antitrini- 
tarian  refugees  from  Italy  and  Switzerland,  "  some 
of  whom,"  says  Hase,  **  in  the  name  of  the  Script- 
ures or  of  intellectual  freedom,  claimed  the  right  to 
reject  any  ecclesiastical  doctrine,  and  especially  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  as  it  had  been  taught  by 
the  Church,"  indulging  the  hope  of  finding  an  asy- 
lum in  countries  possessing  the  Reformation,"  ap- 
peared at  an  early  date  in  Switzerland,  then  in 
Germany,  and  elsewhere.  They  found  sympathy 
among  the  Anabaptists  when  they  were  repelled 
by  Luther  and  Melanchthon.  John  Denck,  (died 
1528,)  and  Hitzer,  (died  1529,)  Anabaptist  leaders, 
learned  and  extensively  read  in  polite  literature, 
and  others,  almost  with  the  origin  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, avowed  Antitrinitarian  views.    These  opinions 


Faith.  77 

spread  with  this  sect  even  to  England,  where  they 
appeared  "  at  the  very  dawn  of  the  Reformation."  * 
Poland  and  Transylvania  became  the  centers  from 
which  they  radiated,  and  the  Catechism  printed  at 
the  Socinian  printing-office,  in  Racow,  was  a  noted 
campaign  document. 

In  England,  in  every  period  since  the  earliest 
dawn  of  the  Reformation,  Antitrinitarian  ideas 
have  been  held  by  those  who  have  shared  the 
common  protest  against  the  Church  of  Rome.  In 
ihe  reign  of  Edward  (1547 -1553)  these  views  ex- 
cited the  alarm  of  the  authorities.  Under  the  reign 
of  Elizabeth  and  James  I.  (i 558-1625)  men  suffered 
martyrdom  on  account  of  them.  In  the  time  of 
the  Commonwealth,  John  Biddle,  who  had  collected 
a  body  of  worshipers  holding  these  views,  was  ban- 
ished by  Cromwell,  and  subsequently  returning, 
died  in  prison  in  1662.  Strong  tendencies  to  Ari- 
anism  existed  among  the  English  Presbyterians 
throughout  the  seventeenth  century,  and  it  was  a 
bar  to  the  effective  union  sought  between  them  and 
the  Independents  near  the  close  of  the  century. 
Prior  to  this  time,  divines  of  the  Established 
Church — Chillingworth,  Hales  of  Eaton,  etc. — had 
thrown  aside  the  system  of  Calvin,  and  exposed 
themselves  to  the  charge  of  Socinianism,  and,  in 
the  next   period,  Cudworth,  Whichcote,  Williams, 

*  Rev.  Wm.  Turner,  A.M.,  "  Unitarianism  Exhibited."     London, 
1846,  p.  157. 
6 


78         Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Tillotson,  and  Whitby,  were  added  to  the  list. 
Later,  Clarke,  Hoadley,  Hare,  Sykes,  Law,  Justin, 
etc.,  not  positively  Antitrinitarians,  expressed  them- 
selves in  language  admitting  of  Unitarian  construc- 
tion. In  the  last  decade  of  the  seventeenth  cent- 
ury an  extensive  controversy  raged,  developing 
within  the  Establishment  two  parties  ■  -  real  and 
nominal  Trinitarians — in  which  Sherlock  was  pro- 
nounced almost  a  Tritheist,  and  South  and  Wallis 
almost  Sabellians.  Among  the  Presbyterians  in 
Scotland  three  eminent  divines  and  professors  in 
the  University  of  Glasgow  belonged  to  this  school 
of  thinkers. 

Modern  philosophy  has  been  a  modifying  factor. 

We  have  already  noticed  the  first  imperfect  phases 
of  modern  philosophy  in  its  transitional  period  from 
mediaeval  dependence  on  the  authority  of  the  Church 
and  of  Aristotle.  Its  establishment  as  an  independ- 
ent science,  uncontrolled  by  any  human  authority, 
occurred  under  Descartes  about  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  years  after  Luther  inaugurated  the  Ref- 
ormation. Indirectly  the  product  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, following  the  example  of  bold  revolt  against 
authority,  Ueberweg  calls  it  "  a  new,  independent 
philosophy,  on  the  basis  of  the  generalized  Protest- 
ant principle."  It  was  destined  to  be  a  great  prov- 
idential factor,  modifying  ancient  philosophy,  skep- 
ticism,   physical   science,  and    the    formularies   of 


Faith.  79 

Trinitarian  and  Antitrinitarian  Protestantism,  and 
aiding  their  deliverance  from  tlie  partial  bondage  to 
scholastic  methods  in  which  they  were  all  still  held. 

A  renovation  more  radical  than  any  hitherto 
known  suddenly  consummated  this  transition,  and 
Bacon  and  Descartes  were  the  renovators — the  sys- 
tems of  both  products  of  the  Reformation.  While 
Bacon  (i  561-1626)  is  regarded  as  the  forerunner  of 
modern  philosophy,  and  Thomas  Campanello  (1568- 
1639)  as  his  echo,  Descartes  (i  596-1650)  is  the  ac- 
knowledged founder.  Next,  after  him  we  find  the 
pinnacles  of  philosophic  development  occupied  by 
Spinoza,  (1632-1677,)  Locke,  (i632-i704,)and  Leib- 
nitz, (1646-1713.) 

Bacon,  not  so  much  an  originator  of  a  new  method 
as  an  instaurator  of  a  new  era,  resisted  tradition  in 
physical  science,  insisted  upon  independent  induc- 
tive processes,  and  thus  effectually  broke  from  the 
authority  and  the  scientific  methods  of  the  Church 
and  the  schoolmen,  as  Luther  had  broken  from  the 
authority  of  the  hierarchy.  Rut  Bacon's  task  was 
only  partly  done.  Descartes,  following  a  few  years 
later,  inaugurated  the  new  method,  which  character- 
izes modern  from  mediaeval  philosophy.  Separat- 
ing it  from  theology,  he  cast  aside  all  assumptions 
and  all  human  authority.  It  was  a  complete  revo- 
lution, and  bold  and  rapid  movements  followed  in 
the  realm  of  inquiry.  "  The  most  stupendous  thought 
that  was  ever  conceived  by  man,  such  as  had  never 


8o        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

been  dared  by  Socrates  or  the  Academy,  by  Aris- 
totle or  the  Stoics,  took  possession  of  Descartes,  in 
his  meditations,  on  a  November  night,  on  the  banks 
of  the  Danube.  His  own  mind  separated  itself  from 
every  thing  besides  ;  and,  in  the  consciousness  of 
its  own  freedom,  stood  over  against  all  tradition,  all 
received  opinion,  all  knowledge,  all  existence  ex- 
cept itself,  thus  asserting  the  principle  of  individu- 
ality as  the  key-note  of  all  coming  philosophy  and 
political  institutions.  Nothing  was  to  be  received 
as  truth  by  man  which  did  not  convince  his  own 
reason.  Luther  opened  up  a  new  world,  in  which 
every  man  was  his  own  priest,  his  own  intercessor ; 
Descartes  opened  a  new  world,  in  which  every 
man  was  his  own  philosopher,  his  own  judge  of 
truth."  * 

Luther  preceded  Descartes  one  hundred  years, 
inaugurating  the  great  revolt  against  despotism, 
and  furnishing  the  inspiration  for  later  and  more  ad- 
vanced movements.  Both  were  bold  reformers — 
the  one  against  the  despotism  of  an  absolute  hier- 
archy, and  the  other  against  the  despotism  of  scho- 
lasticism, products  of  the  middle  ages.  And  yet 
there  are  radical  and  practical  differences  between 
the  two  revolts.  "  The  one  was  the  method  of 
continuity  and  gradual  reform  ;  the  other  of  an  in- 
stantaneous, complete,  and  thorough  revolution. 
The  principle  of  Luther  waked  up  a  superstitious 

♦  Bancroft's  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  ix,  p.  500. 


Faith.  8i 

world,  '  asleep  in  the  lap  of  legends  old,'  but  did 
not  renounce  all  external  authority.  It  used  drags 
and  anchors  to  check  too  rapid  progress,  and  to  se- 
cure its  mooring.  So  it  escaped  premature  con- 
flicts. By  the  principle  of  Descartes,  the  individual 
man  at  once,  and  altogether,  stood  aloof  from  king, 
Church,  universities,  public  opinion,  traditional  sci- 
ence— all  external  authority  and  all  other  beings — 
and,  turning  every  intruder  out  of  the  inner  temple 
of  the  mind,  it  kept  guard  at  its  portal,  to  bar  the 
entry  of  every  belief  that  had  not  first  obtained  a 
passport  from  himself."  * 

After  his  death,  the  philosophy  of  Descartes  ex- 
tensively spread.  The  Churches  and  schools  of 
Holland  were  full  of  Cartesians,  and  the  old  scho- 
lastic philosophy  became  ridiculous.  The  Armin- 
ians  and  Coccijeans  generally  espoused  his  system, 
and  modifications  followed  in  all  branches  of  inquiry. 

By  some  persons,  the  spirit  of  free  inquiry  has 
been  regarded  as  an  unmitigated  evil  in  its  origin, 
and  also  in  its  entire  influence  and  tendencies. 
Such,  however,  is  not  the  testimony  of  history,  nor 
will  it  be  the  verdict  of  the  future.  In  its  inception 
it  sprung  out  of  the  roots  of  the  great  Reformation, 
and  partook  largely  of  its  spirit  and  aims.  The 
leading  principles  in  both  movements  were  germane ; 
and,  in  their  legitimate  and  unperverted  operations, 
each  seems  to  have  been  intended  by  Providence  to 
*  Bancroft's  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  ix,  p.  500,  etc. 


82        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

supplement  the  other — the  one  a  protest  againsi 
hierarchical  assumptions  and  intolerance,  and  the 
other  against  the  not  less  rigid  intolerance  of  me- 
diaeval scholasticism,  in  its  theology,  science,  and 
general  inquiry.  As  revolts  against  the  enslave- 
ment of  the  religious  and  intellectual  natures,  their 
mission  vi^as  one  of  universal  emancipation.  Each 
had  its  legitimate  sphere. 

Descartes,  the  powerful  promoter  of  the  purely 
rational  system,  from  whose  bold  conception  the 
radical  method  sprang,  recognized  an  act  of  faith  as 
lying  at  the  basis  of  all  the  processes  of  the  intel- 
lect, and  proclaimed  "  God  the  first,  the  most  cer- 
tain, and  the  best  of  all  truths."  He  comprehended 
that  "  if  God  is  not,  the  most  regular  exercises  of 
thought  may  deceive  us,  and  that  our  reason  affords 
us  no  guaranty."  He  confessed  that  all  the  force 
of  his  proofs  "  depends  upon  a  belief  which  precedes 
them — that,  without  this  belief,  man  is  condemned 
to  irremediable  doubt."  The  spirit  of  free  inquiry, 
therefore,  in  its  inception,  was  not  irreverent  and 
reckless ;  it  did  not  disregard  all  limitations  im- 
plied by  faith  in  God  ;  but  it  was  a  revolt  against 
the  intellectual  intolerance  engendered  amid  the 
damps  and  darkness  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

This  is  the  mission  upon  which  it  was  sent  forth 
by  "  Him  who  is  the  head  over  all  things  unto  his 
Church  ;  "  to  deliver  his  truth  from  the  spirit  of 
dogmatism  ;    to  dissolve  the   rigid   and  perverted 


Faith.  83 

forms  into  which  it  had  been  wrought  by  the  iron 
logic  of  the  mediaeval  scholastics,  and  to  restore  it 
to  the  more  simple,  practical,  and  vital  forms  in 
which  the  great  Teacher  and  his  apostles  originally 
presented  it.  This  is  still  its  mission,  and  none  the 
less  because  it  has  been  perverted  in  the  interest  of 
unbelief.  But,  even  as  an  opposing  force,  many  in- 
cidental benefits  have  accrued  to  the  cause  of  truth, 
under  the  wise  overrulings  of  Him  who  is  its  su- 
preme source.  The  emancipation  of  mind  from  in 
tolerance  and  old-time  superstitions  is  now  a  rapid, 
world-wide  tendency,  in  which  many. forces,  both 
of  faith  and  unbelief,  either  wittingly  or  unwitting- 
ly, are  participating. 

In  the  history  of  Protestantism  this  new  spirit  has 
been  marked  by  hesitation,  circumspection,  moder- 
ation, and  gradual  progress  ;  but  elsewhere  it  has 
been  reckless  and  defiant.  In  England  and  France 
free  thought  became  "  speculative,  skeptical,  and 
impassioned.  This  modern  Prometheus,  as  it  broke 
its  chains,  started  up  with  revenge  against  the  eccle- 
siastical terrorism  which  for  centuries  had  seques- 
tered the  rights  of  mind."  Henceforth  it  every- 
where actively  assailed  Christianity  and  invaded  all 
departments  of  science,  politics,  morals,  and  relig- 
ion; proving  the  truth  of  the  sentiment  that  "  Error 
is  often  the  handmaid  of  Providence,"  rendering 
two  services  to  truth — intellectual  and  moral — com- 
pelling clear  definitions  and  testing  offered  proofs, 


84        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

and  also  rousing  languid  natures  into  a  passionate 
love  for  the  truth  which  error  threatens. 

We  have  noticed  the  rise  of  the  spirit  of  skepti- 
cism, in  advance  of  the  Reformation,  out  of  the 
transitional  movements  produced  by  the  Revival 
of  Learning ;  and  we  have  seen,  on  the  continent 
of  Europe,  a  succession  of  skeptical  inquirers  ex- 
tending through  a  period  of  two  hundred  years, 
from  the  Platonic  Academy  in  the  gardens  of  the 
Medici,  founded  1440-1445,  to  the  first  develop- 
ment of  deism  in  England.  The  period  of  Herbert 
(i 581-1648)  and  Hobbes,  (i 588-1679,)  the  first  En- 
glish deists,  synchronizes  with  that  of  the  French 
skeptics,  Sanchez,  (i 563-1632,)  Le  Vayer,  (1586- 
1662,)  and  Gassendi,  (1592- 165 5.)  Herbert  and 
Hobbes  traveled  extensively  and  resided  on  the 
Continent,  enjoying  personal  acquaintance  with 
Gassendi,  and  other  leading  thinkers. 

From  the  time  of  Locke,  whose  philosophy  was 
*  a  middle  term  between  Bacon's  empiricism  and 
Descartes'  rationalism,  on  the  one  hand,  and  En- 
glish deism  and  French  materialism,  on  the  other," 
English  skepticism,  adopting,  in  part,  Locke's  sen- 
sationalism, entered  upon  a  new  stage  of  develop- 
ment, under  the  leadership  of  Tolland,  (died  1722,) 
the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  (died  171 3,)  Collins,  (died 
1729,)  Woolston,  (died  1733,)  Mandeville,  (died 
1733,)  Tindall,  (died  1733,)  Chubbs,  (died  1747,) 
Lord  Bohngbroke,  (died   175 1,)  and  David  Hume, 


Faith.  85 

(died  1776) — the  representatives  of  English  deism, 
in  the  dark  period,  in  the  last  century,  to  which  we 
shall  hereafter  refer. 

Under  such  powerful  forces,  the  revolt  against 
Christianity,  in  England  and  France,  became  wild, 
reckless,  and  ruinous  to  faith  and  morals.  Many 
sacred  truths  were  seriously  periled,  and  their  influ- 
ence over  many  minds  was  destroyed.  Such  results, 
if  not  a  necessity,  were  nevertheless  a  natural  re- 
bound from  spiritual  despotism  and  dogmatism. 
The  scholastic  philosophy,  upheld  by  the  hierarchy, 
and  designed  as  a  coat  of  mail  to  protect  the  Church, 
became  a  compress,  preventing  growth  and  stifling 
life.  Disastrous  consequences  to  Christianity  could 
hardly  fail  to  ensue,  when  a  philosophy  so  subtle, 
so  foul  and  tyrannical,  but  baptized  and  canonized 
as  of  God,  should  be  exposed  as  "  a  barren,  mon- 
strous mockery."  But  is  the  party  which  tears 
away  the  mockery,  or  the  one  which  made  and  up- 
held it,  responsible  for  the  unbelief  which  follows? 
Let  not  Protestants  timidly  distrust  their  own 
principles. 

If  the  rebound  from  this  hideous  despotism  was 
sometimes  ruinous,  it  was  not  less  necessary  to  the 
progress  of  humanity.  "  It  is  difficult  for  the  human 
mind  to  stop  in  revolutions.  When  it  begins  to 
cast  its  false  creeds  and  false  gods  overboard,  it  is 
apt  also  to  throw  away  the  true."  It  was  spiritual 
despotism,  paralyzing  and  darkening  the  intellect 


86        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

of  the  nations,  that  made  mental  emancipation  wild, 
and  mad  with  revenge  for  its  long  enslavement. 

Protestantism,  sharing  in  the  same  trammels, 
started  upon  its  career.  A  new  philosophy,  a  child 
of  Protestantism,  sprang  up  in  her  pathway,  and 
carried  into  practical  operation,  in  the  realm  of 
thought,  the  protest  against  human  authority,  which 
Protestantism  had  made  against  the  Papacy.  Its 
providential  mission  was  to  purify,  although,  some- 
times, under  a  perverted  spirit,  it  has  been  as  by 
fire.  Modern  physical  science  and  modern  skepti- 
cism, both  starting  ahead  of  Protestantism,  and 
antitrinitarian  Protestantism  starting  quite  as  early 
as  orthodox  Protestantism,  all  in  the  same  partial 
bondage  to  scholastic  methods  and  the  dogmatic 
spirit,  have  jointly  shared  in  these  modifying  proc- 
esses, and  have  mutually  improved  each  other. 

By  such  processes  of  development  have  these 
great  modern  forces  come  into  being,  taken  their 
position,  and  started  in  the  race,  as  working  factors 
in  the  realm  of  mind.  They  have  had  points  of 
unity  and  also  of  antagonism.  Criticism,  waste, 
and  even  destruction,  have  been  inevitable ;  but, 
through  them,  pure  truth  and  the  best  life  of  the 
race  have  been  promoted.  Which  has  best  endured 
the  purging,  reaped  the  largest  gains,  and  conferred 
the  greatest  blessings  upon  the  world,  the  records 
of  the  centuries  show. 


CHAPTER  III. 
PHASES    OF   PROGRESS, 

Threatening    Aspects. 
Safeguards. 
Encouraging    Indications. 


Fatth.  89 


CHAPTER   III. 

PHASES   OF  PROGRESS. 

THERE  is  an  impression  in  some  quarters  that 
serious  changes  are  taking  place  in  the  relig- 
ious thought  of  the  world,  that  Protestant  Chris- 
tianity is  losing  its  fundamental  doctrines,  and  its 
hold  upon  the  respect  of  cultivated  minds,  and  that 
these  things  bode  evil  to  the  Churches,  whatever 
their  statistical  exhibits  may  show. 

Let  us  look  at  the  worst  aspects  of  the  case,  and 
see  whether  the  symptoms  are  grounds  of  hope  or 
alarm. 

The  first  and  most  palpable  indication  is  a  drift 
of  religious  ideas.  The  present  is  called  an  age  of 
infidelity  outside  of  the  Church,  and  of  a  decay  of 
faith  within.  Changes  are  taking  place  in  the  ac- 
cepted theology.  Theological  controversies  are  di- 
rected to  new  issues,  or  to  old  ones  in  modified 
forms.  Some  religious  thinkers  are  changing  their 
religious  bases;  some  are  rationalizing  their  beliefs, 
and  adjusting  them  to  new  conditions  of  progress; 
others  are  toning  up  and  growing  more  conservative; 
and  others  still  are  anxiously  wondering  whither  we 
are  tending. 


90        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Many  are  seeking  relief  from  the  en:ibarrassments 
of  close  elaborated  systems ;  the  "  liberal "  are  grow- 
ing more  "  liberal,"  some,  to  be  borne  into  seas 
where  deadly  calms  reign,  or  others  upon  sunken 
rocks,  or  into  engulfing  quicksands  of  doubt  and  de 
spair.  Nevertheless,  formulated  creeds  and  books 
of  discipline  remain,  and  are  likely  to  remain,  to 
serve  as  buoys,  pointing  out  deep  water,  and  indi- 
cating the  relative  position  of  the  fleet. 

A  considerable  "  drift  of  educated  thought — in 
science,  in  art,  and  in  philosophy — is  away  from 
Church  life."*  Some  are  "  losing  veneration  for  the 
Church  and  its  ordinances,"  and  no  longer  regard  it 
as  "  a  divine  institution,  in  any  peculiar  sense,"  but 
only  as  "an  association  for  education."  It  is  popu- 
lar to  kick  against  dogmas.  The  old  systems,  which 
"supposed  a  logical  connection  in  divine  truth," 
"  like  a  pyramid,  tapering,  point  by  point,  to  its 
very  apex,"  and  devolving  upon  its  builders  a  kind 
of  necessity  to  cramp  Christian  doctrine  into  forms 
harmonizing  with  preconceived  ideals  of  theological 
.symmetry,  have  fallen  into  disfavor,  and,  with  many, 
into  contempt,  as  relics  of  the  old  scholastic  habit. 
The  temper  of  the  present  age  instinctively  shuns 
every  thing  tending  that  way.  Theodicies  are  put 
forth  less  elaborately  and  more  modestly. 

*  The  author  acknowledges  his  indebtedness  in  this  and  in  several 
of  the  following  paragraphs,  to  Rev.  Heniy  Ward  Beecher's  Ser- 
mons upon  "Christianity  Unchanged  by  Changes." 


Faith.  91 

We  find  some  men  atheistically  inclined,  "  not 
ignorant  and  malignant  men,"  but  men  who  "  pro- 
fess to  have  trained  their  minds  to  regular  and 
scientific  thought,"  who  favor  those  views  quietly 
and  tentatively,  and  are  "  not  active  propagandists." 
Others,  persons  of  mystical  poetic  natures,  may  be 
called  moderate  pantheists,  whose  god  is  *'  the  sum 
of  all  the  facts,  attributes,  and  possibilities  of  all 
his  creatures,"  but  without  personality,  vague,  mys- 
terious, illusive. 

Others  are  unsettled  in  regard  to  certain  ques- 
tions about  the  Bible — as  to  the  extent  of  revelation 
— whether  inspiration  reached  beyond  the  natural 
faculties  of  the  writers ;  whether  it  was  "  an  injec- 
tion of  thought;"  whether  it  extended  to  every 
word  of  the  original  language ;  whether  it  was  a 
special  gift  to  the  few  men  who  penned  the  biblical 
books,  or  whether  it  has  been  bestowed  upon  other 
great  religious  teachers,  in  other  lands  and  periods. 
There  have  been  pressing  inquiries  in  regard  to  the 
authority  of  the  Scriptures ;  and  how  far,  "  in  the 
last  estate,"  doubtful  points  '*  come  for  audience 
and  adjudication  before  the  court  of  the  reasonable 
moral  consciousness,  in  an  intelligent  age."  Rules 
and  methods  of  biblical  interpretation  are  undergo- 
ing modification. 

Specific  doctrines  also  have  been  subjected  to 
close  questionings.  The  trinity,  depravity,  redemp- 
tion, the  resurrection,  penalty,  the  scope  and  im- 


92       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

port  of  miracles,  and  other  doctrines,  have  been 
freshly  and  broadly  discussed,  the  fields  plowed  and 
replowed,  subsoiled  and  drained.  In  some  circles, 
the  Christian  ideas  included  in  the  words  sin,  re- 
pentance, pardon,  atonement,  salvation,  holiness, 
etc.,  as  long  interpreted  in  religious  thinking,  are 
radically  opposed  or  explained  away.  It  is  said, 
and  not  without  some  basis  in  facts,  that  "  thinkers 
of  great  boldness  and  breadth,"  ministers  and  lay- 
men, may  be  found  in  the  "  evangelical "  Churches 
of  Scotland,  in  the  Church  of  England,  and  in  the 
"orthodox"  Churches  in  the  United  States,  who 
are  turning  aside  from  the  old  faiths. 

Among  many  literary,  scientific,  and  even  busi- 
ness men  there  seems  to  exist  a  conviction  that 
there  is  a  radical  conflict  between  the  current  the- 
ologies and  the  natural  sciences,  while  the  attitude 
of  others  is  simply  one  of  indifference  to  all  theol- 
ogy, and  even  to  religion.  A  few  years  ago  Mr. 
Ruskin  said  that  so  utter  was  the  infidelity  of 
Europe,  no  statesman  would  dare,  in  defending  a 
measure  before  Parliament  or  the  Corps  Legislatif^ 
to  quote  from  the  Bible  in  support  of  his  position. 
About  the  same  time,  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
Christian  Evidence  Society,  in  London,  Lord  Salis- 
bury, the  chairman,  said,  "  The  intense  importance 
of  the  prevalent  unbelief  pressed  itself  upon  the 
minds  of  thoughtful  Christians,  and  acquired  new 
weight  every  day.  .  .  .  They  were  standing  in  one 


Faith.  93 

of  the  most  awful  crises  through  which  the  intellect 
of  Christendom  had  ever  passed.     They  could  point 
to    many   distinguished   intellects   from    which    all 
that  belief  had  gone  in  which  until  now  the  high- 
est minds  coincided."     Lord  Shaftesbury,  following 
him,  said    that    "bishops,  deans,   men    of  science, 
the  greatest  minds  in  literature,  avowed  infidel  prin- 
ciples."    In  the  "Atlantic  Monthly,"  for  Novem- 
ber, 1879,  Professor  Goldwin  Smith  also  joined  in 
this  gloomy  representation   of  our  times,  and  dis- 
coursed upon  "  The  Prospect  of  a  Moral  Interreg- 
num," the  result  of  the  wide-spread  infidelity  of  the 
present  time.     "  Three  fourths  of  the  strongest  and 
most  original  minds  among  the  younger  graduates  of 
our  American  colleges"  are  claimed  to  hold  "be- 
liefs or  unbeliefs  diametrically  opposed  to  the  accept- 
ed faith  of  Christendom."     Others,  of  less  mental  in- 
dependence, are  presumed  to  be  unbelievers  from 
fashion,  or  from  pride  of  association  ;  and  others  still 
are  said  to  be  simply  in  a  condition  of  non-belief— a 
state  of  vacancy  and  indefiniteness — because  they 
hardly  know  what  to  believe. 

To  complete  the  picture,  "  Lawyers,  physicians, 
teachers,  scientific  men,"  says  Rev.  H.  W.  Beecher, 
"  sit  for  various  reasons  under  pulpit  instruction, 
some  because  they  feel  a  want  of  reverence  and 
worship  ;  some  because  their  social  relationships 
make  it  convetiient  for  them  ;  some  because  they 
are  bringing  up  families,  and  they  think  it  a  good 


94        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

thing-  for  their  children  to  start  in  this  way,  and  not 
blossom  out  into  more  perfect  knowledge  until 
their  habits  and  characters  are  formed  ;  and  some 
because  it  is  respectable,  fashionable,  and  profita- 
ble ;  but,  whatever  the  cause  may  be,  our  Churches 
are  filled  with  men  who  are  very  much  at  sea  in 
regard  to  their  religious  beliefs."  * 

In  some  localities,  though  in  comparatively  small 
circles,  but  active  and  many-seeming,  a  Babel  of 
beliefs,  new-fangled  and  old-fangled,  loads  the  air. 
"  Pre-existence  of  souls,  regeneration  by  moral  sua- 
sion, the  religion  of  philanthropy,  the  ethics  of  ex- 
pediency, the  Bible  to  be  judged  by  man's  intui- 
tions, inspiration  reduced  to  genius,  the  gospel  of 
physical  strength,  the  gospel  of  aspiration,  the  eter- 
nity of  matter,  millenarianism,  science  the  new 
Bible,  the  nineteenth  century  to  sit  in  judgment 
on  God's  word  and  to  select  what  it  shall  be  pleased 
to  believe,  (the  twentieth  century  of  course  to  have 
the  same  privilege;)  why,  these  that  I  have  named 
— and  they  are  enough  to  dizzy  one's  brain — are 
only  the  first  syllables  of  the  clamor  of  the  semi- 
infidel  Church  of  the  day."  f 

We  cheerfully  allow  a  considerable  part  of  the 
foregoing  statements  but  these  things  excite  in  us 
no  alarm.     Why? 

♦Discourse  preached  May  19,  1878.     "Christian  Union,"  p.  14. 
f  "  The  Light :    Is  it  Waning?  "  p.  61.     Congregational  Publica- 
tion Society,  1879. 


Faith.  95 

I.  The  condition  of  things  is  not  wholly  nor  even 
mainly  the  result  of  human  depravity. 

Many  love  darkness  and  hate  the  light,  and  car- 
nal hearts  resist  the  higher  and  purer  truths.     But 
this  too  common  source  of  unbelief  does  not  always 
nor  even  approximately  account  for  the  tendencies 
under  consideration.     A  large  portion  of  the  world, 
in  the  Churches  and  out  of  them,  is  actuated  by 
other  motives.      Many   excellent  persons,  of  high 
character  and  devout  spirit,  in  these  matters  pro- 
ceed  thoughtfully,   hesitatingly,   and    even    regret- 
fully, because  of  the  perils  attending  both  the  sur- 
render and  the    restatement    of  ideas.      But   they 
think  they  have  gleams  of  new  truths,  or  of  new 
forms   and    relations    of  truth  ;    and,    probably,   in 
some  cases,  they  are  more  conscientious  in  saying 
what  they  do  not  believe  than  others  in  averring 
what  they  do  believe.     Such  changes  come  not  out 
of  the  baser  elements  of  human  nature,  but  largely 
out    of  higher   aspirations.       Bishop    Butler   said : 
"  There  is  a  middle  ground   between  a  full  satis- 
faction of  the  truth  of  Christianity  and  a  satisfac- 
tion to  the  contrary.     The  middle  state  of  mind 
b.etween  these  two  consists  of  a  serious  apprehen- 
sion   that    it   may   be   true,   joined   with   a   doubt 
whether  it  is  so."     Such  a  state  may  co-exist  with  a 
simple  love  of  the  truth,  and  earnestness  in  seeking 
it.     Such   doubt  is  not  criminal  ;    it  is  one  of  the 
stages  of  progress  in  faith  and  knowledge.     Faith 


96        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

becomes  stronger  from  the  investigations  which 
honest  doubt  has  prompted.  Skepticism,  in  these 
milder  forms,  is  only  a  suspense  in  the  midst  of 
investigation. 

Some  of  the  more  moderate  forms  of  the  ration- 
ah'stic  spirit  in  our  times,  whether  wise  or  unwise, 
have  not  been  unfriendly,  in  intent,  toward  Chris- 
tianity. They  have  simply  attempted  to  discover 
elements  of  truth  in  the  various  systems  of  theology 
and  mythology.  The  philosophy  of  Hegel  was  an 
elaborate  attempt  to  identify  the  deductions  of 
reason  with  the  system  of  the  Church.  But  how 
often,  in  such  attempts,  is  faith  surrendered  at  the 
outset,  and  reason  accepted  as  supreme  and  final.  A 
heavy  discount  must  therefore  be  charged  to  even 
honest  doubt,  because  of  the  unrest  and  peril  which 
follow  in  its  path.  But  we  are  learning  that  this  is 
only  one  of  many  deductions,  which  the  cause  of 
Christianity  is  obliged  to  endure,  in  its  attempts  to 
save  and  utilize  imperfect  beings ;  that  it  can  afford 
to  endure  very  much  of  such  loss  ;  and  that  often, 
in  the  long  stretch  of  events,  large  compensations 
come  from  these  losses.  The  truth  is  strengthened 
and  fortified  by  the  stimulus  they  awakened. 

2.  Nor  is  the  present  situation  an  indication  of 
the  weakness  of  evangelical  Protestantism. 

It  is  rather  an  evidence  of  life,  of  activity,  of 
mental  inquiry  and  investigation  —  normal  condi- 
tions of  intelligent  souls.     Questions  will  arise,  and 


Faith.  97 

there  will  be  trouble  in  settling  them.  Rome  says, 
"  Come,  cast  yourself  into  my  lap.  I  have  settled 
every  thing  infallibly.  My  children  have  no  doubts. 
Every  thing  with  me  has  been  thoroughly  arranged, 
established,  and  vindicated  for  ages.  No  anxious 
changes  are  necessary.  I  have  a  tribunal  that  an- 
swers infallibly  all  inquiries.  I  give  peace  and 
rest."  But  God  did  not  make  man  to  live  on  any 
such  basis,  furnishing  him  with  a  "  packed-up  trunk 
of  beliefs,"  to  take  with  him  all  through  the  way  of 
life.  Nor  does  Rome  meet  the  needs  of  her  own 
children.  Large  numbers  of  thinkers  in  France  to- 
day and  elsewhere  have  broken  radically  from 
their  traditional  faith,  and  hold  only  a  nominal  re- 
lation with  the  Papal  Church  as  qvasi  Catholics. 
We  are  made  to  be  "  thinkers  with  the  divine 
Thinker,"  responsible  for  thinking  and  deciding. 
The  spirit  of  inquiry  and  investigation  may  some- 
times be  bold,  rash,  irregular,  discarding  all  respon- 
sibility. It  may  push  sacred  and  well-established 
principles  into  temporary  peril,  with  no  just  vindi- 
cation for  such  conduct.  But  inquiry  is  the  path 
of  individual  improvement,  a  normal  state. 

Considered  as  a  whole,  it  should  be  regarded  as 
the  progressive  movement  of  the  world's  best  relig- 
ious thought.  Does  it  sometimes  seem  irregular 
and  destructive  ?  So  is  all  progress,  for  it  is  the 
advance  of  living  elements  over  the  decayed.  It  is 
inevitable  that  sharp  criticism,  friendly,  unfriendly, 


98        Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

and  even  destructive,  will  arise  to  test  truth.  By 
such  tests,  piercing  to  the  core,  we  get  rid  of  old 
superstitions  and  husks  destitute  of  vitality.  Thus 
have  physical  science,  medicine,  and  civil  law  been 
improved.  What  immense  revolutions  have  taken 
place  in  all  departments  of  knowledge  ! 

Old  ideas,  sometimes,  are  inadequate  to  our 
needs.  The  old  phraseology  will  not  stand  the 
test  of  the  progress  of  philology,  and,  therefore,  old 
formularies  and  technicalities  must  be  modified. 
Any  other  course  would  logically  carry  us  back  to 
the  phraseology  and  demonology  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  Some  persons  see  only  evil  in  such  things, 
and  think  that  evangelical  ideas  are  dying  out.  But 
we  see  in  them  signs  of  the  world's  growth  under 
the  power  of  a  divine  impulse.  Behind  it  are  divine 
factors,  and  it  will  be  sustained  by  the  world's  best 
consciousness.  Its  product  will  be  a  larger  and 
deeper  expression  of  the  Divine  will.  During  the 
past  three  centuries  great  factors  have  been  oper- 
ating for  the  production  of  these  results  ;  and  Prot- 
estantism has  been  an  influential  participator,  and 
also,  by  just  right,  a  leading  beneficiary. 

3.  Truth  does  not  depend  upon  speculative  con 
ditions,  nor  upon  purely  intellectual  apprehension 
The  heart-needs  conserve  and  guard  it. 

We  are  little  inclined  to  agree  with  those  who 
think  the  power  of  Christianity,  even  with  persons 
of  the  highest  intellectual  culture,  depends  upon  its 


Faith.  99 

alliance  with  philosophical  theories.  "  The  Gospel 
of  Christ  is  not  the  faint  negative  of  the  daguerreo- 
typist,  which  cannot  be  discerned  by  the  usual 
vision,  but  must  be  held  up  to  a  certain  light,  under 
the  direction  of  an  adept  operator.  The  Christian 
religion  has  never  identified  itself  with  any  system 
of  science,  astronomical,  intellectual,  political,  or 
natural."  Liberal  speculators  in  theology,  and  the 
champions  of  "  advanced  thought,"  forget  these 
things,  and  are  frequently  betrayed  into  the  old 
scholastic  method  of  forcing  the  truth  into  meta- 
physical formulas — an  offense  to  all  just  minds. 
How  much  wiser  and  truer  the  higher  philosophy 
which  aims  to  meet  the  deeper  wants  of  the  heart, 
than  that  which  comes  from  intellectual  restless- 
ness or  morbid  curiosity,  or  is  hampered  by  precon- 
ceived logical  conditions  ! 

In  this  country,  where  liberalism  in  religion  has 
been  carried  to  the  furthest  limit,  there  seems  little 
reason  to  fear  that  radical  unbelief  will  be  either 
extensive  or  permanent.  "  There  are  aberrations 
and  vagaries  without  number,  but  they  are,  for  the 
most  part,  ephemeral.  The  experiment  of  letting 
people  think  and  preach  what  they  like  has  not  been 
so  destructive  as  it  was  once  thought  it  would  be. 
...  A  practical  adoption  of  the  mild  methods, 
which  must  after  all  be  conceded  to  be  in  the  true 
spirit  of  the  Gospel,  cannot,  we  think,  with  truth  be 
said  to  have  been  unfavorable  to  its  influence.     It 


loo       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

is  a  fact  of  impressive  significance  that  the  minister* 
who  has  borne  liberalism  in  religion  to  lengths  here- 
tofore unknown  in  any  public  speaker  professing 
Christianity,  has  lately,  in  terminating  his  labors  in 
New  York,  deliberately  announced  his  dissatisfac- 
tion with  the  results  of  his  own  teachings,  whether 
in  himself  or  others."  f 

The  human  race  cannot  live  in  a  state  of  unbe- 
lief. The  soul  needs  faith  and  the  benefit  of  faith, 
and  will  demand  "  the  bread  of  life." 

Said  Professor  Austin  A.  Phelps,  in  "  The  Inde- 
pendent," a  few  years  ago  :  "  There  was  truth  in 
Robespierre's  argument  for  the  Being  of  God,  that 
'  Atheism  was  an  aristocratic  belief.'  It  is  true  of 
every  variety  of  infidelity  that,  sooner  or  later,  it 
contracts  itself  within  the  circle  of  a  few^  minds. 
The  masses  of  men  never  permanently  embrace  it. 
The  history  of  infidelity  proves  this.  It  has  been 
beaten  so  many  times,  in  so  many  varieties,  beneath 
such  adroit  disguises,  under  such  diversities  of  cir- 
cumstances, with  such  accumulations  of  disadvan- 
tage on  the  side  of  faith,  popular  opinion  has  so 
often  spurned  it,  respectable  opinion  has  so  often 
become  ashamed  of  it,  that  now  we  have  settled 
upon  this  as  one  of  the  axioms  of  Christian  pol- 
icy, that  infidelity  cannot  become  the  permanent 
behef  of  any  people.  The  mania  of  suicide  lurks  in 
its  blood.     Sooner  or  later  a  secret  power  in  the 

•  Rev.  O.  B.  Frothingham.  f  "  New  York  Evening  Post" 


Faith.  ioi 

popular  instinct  of  faith  will  creep  around  it  in  a 
circle  of  fire,  and  it  will  act  the  scorpion  in  the  fa- 
ble. This  we  believe  simply  because  the  history  of 
unbelief  is  a  succession  of  such  deaths.  It  is  always 
braying  in  some  new  form,  and  is  always  gasping  in 
some  old  form." 

4.  The  present  indications  and  tendencies  of  re- 
ligious thought  are  not  new,  unusual,  and  excep- 
tional experiences  in  the  world's  history,  nor  in  the 
history  of  modern  times. 

We  see  but  a  tithe  of  these  things  as  compared 
with  Europe,  in  the  opening  half  of  the  last  century, 
when  "the  human  mind,  pushing  its  inquiries  in  all 
directions,  approached  and  entered  the  domain  of 
metaphysics  in  religion.  The  disclosure  of  ancient 
errors  in  natural  science  as  well  as  the  falsehoods  of 
the  Papacy,  had  cherished  a  rising  habit  of  doubt, 
till  incredulity  was  regarded  a  token  of  superior 
wisdom.  .  .  .  Theologians  felt  the  influence,  or 
yielded  without  consciousness.  It  was  as  if  a  mist 
had  silently  overspread  the  landscape  ;  and  neither 
tree  nor  hill,  neither  the  house  of  God  below  nor 
the  bright  heaven  above,  was  seen  clearly.  Not  a 
land  in  Western  Europe  was  exempt  from  that  pe- 
culiar atmosphere,  in  which  all  forms  of  speculation 
glided  into  incredulity."  * 

"  Never,"   said   a  writer   in  the  "  North   British 

♦  Bishop  Burgess,  of  Maine,  in  "  Pages  from  the  Ecclesiastical 
History  of  New  England." 


I02       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Review."  "  has  century  risen  on  England  so  void 
of  soul  and  faith  as  that  which  opened  with  Queen 
Anne,  (1702,)  and  reached  its  misty  noon  beneath 
the  second  George  (1732- 1760) — a  dewless  night 
succeeded  by  a  sunless  dawn.  .  .  .  The  Puritans 
were  buried  and  the  Methodists  were  not  born.  .  .  . 
The  world  had  the  idle,  discontented  look  of  the 
morning  after  some  mad  holiday,"  In  1729  the 
heads  of  Oxford  University  complained  of  the 
spread  of  open  deism  among  the  students,  and 
Cambridge  struggled  with  the  same  evil.  Isaac 
Taylor  says:  "At  the  time  when  Wesley  was  acting 
as  moderator  in  the  disputations  at  Lincoln  College 
(1729-1734)  there  was  no  philosophy  abroad  in  the 
world — there  was  no  thinking — that  was  not  atheis- 
tic in  its  tone  and  tendency."*  The  "Weekly  Mis- 
cellany" (1732)  said:  "Freethinkers  were  formed 
into  clubs  to  propagate  their  sentiments,  and  athe- 
ism was  scattered  broadcast  through  the  kingdom." 
The  pastoral  letters  of  Bishop  Gibson  f  show  that 
the  most  pernicious  efforts  were  put  forth  to  under- 
mine religion.  "  Some  set  aside  all  Christian  ordi- 
nances, the  Christian  ministry,  and  the  Christian 
Church  ;  others  so  allegorize  Christ's  miracles  as  to 
take  away  their  reality  ;  others  display  the  utmost 
zeal  for  natural  religion,  in  opposition  to  revealed  ; 
and  all,  or  most,  pleading  for  liberty,  run  into  the 

*  "  Wesley  and  Methodism."     Am.  edition,  p.  33. 

f  Quoted  in  Tyerman's  "  Life  of  Wesley,"  vol.  i,  p.  219. 


Faith.  103 

wildest  licentiousness.  Reason  is  recommended  a? 
a  good  and  sufficient  guide  in  matters  of  religion 
and  the  Scriptures  are  believed  only  so  far  as  they 
agree  or  disagree  with  the  light  of  nature."  A 
writer  in  "  Blackwood's  Magazine  "  *  said,  "  Pope 
held  his  hereditary  faith  without  the  slightest  ap- 
pearance or  pretense  of  any  spiritual  attachment  to 
it."  Sir  John  Barnard  said,  "  It  really  seems  to  be 
the  fashion  for  a  man  to  declare  himself  of  no  re- 
ligion." Montesquieu  said,  "  There  is  no  religion 
in  England.  If  the  subject  is  mentioned  in  society 
it  excites  nothing  but  laughter.  Not  more  than 
four  or  five  members  of  the  House  of  Commons  are 
regular  attendants  at  Church."  Bishop  Butler  said  :f 
"  It  is  come,  I  know  not  how,  to  be  taken  for 
granted,  by  many  persons,  that  Christianity  is  not 
so  much  as  a  subject  of  inquiry  ;  but  that  it  is  now, 
at  length,  discovered  to  be  fictitious.  And,  accord- 
ingly, they  treat  it  as  if,  in  the  present  age,  this 
were  an  agreed  point  among  all  people  of  discern- 
ment, and  nothing  remained  but  to  set  it  up  as  a 
principal  subject  of  mirth  and  ridicule,  as  it  were  by 
way  of  reprisals  for  having  so  long  interrupted  the 
pleasures  of  the  world." 

The  clergy  were  thoroughly  infected  by  this  tend- 
ency. Natural  religion  included  most  of  their  the- 
ology.    The    great    doctrines  of  the    Reformation 

*  About  twenty-five  years  ago. 

f  Preface  to  his  "  Analogy  of  Religion."     1736. 


I04      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

were  banished  from  the  universities  and  the  pulpits. 
A  large  class  of  divines  held  to  a  refined  system  of 
ethics,  having  no  connection  with  Christian  motives 
and  the  vital  principle  of  spiritual  religion.  Arian- 
ism  and  Socinianism  were  fashionable  in  the  Estab 
lished  Church,  and  the  prevailing  creed  of  the  most 
intelligent  Dissenters.  Among  the  Presbyterians 
the  departures  from  orthodoxy  were  very  grave. 
Three  professors  in  the  University  of  Glasgow  were 
Antitrinitarians.  An  able  school  of  Arian  teachers 
arose  among  the  Presbyterians,  in  Exeter,*  about 
[717.  It  spread  through  Devonshire  and  Cornwall 
to  the  metropolis,  and  established  itself  in  Salter's 
Hall,  in  London,  among  the  descendants  of  a  Pu- 
ritan ancestry.  "  Latitudinarianism  spread  widely 
through  all  religious  bodies,  and  dogmatic  teach- 
ings were  almost  excluded  from  the  pulpit."  f 

Mr.  Lecky  said  :  ^  *'  The  doctrines  of  depravity, 
the  vicarious  atonement,  the  necessity  of  salvation, 
the  new  birth,  faith,  the  action  of  the  Divine  Spirit 
in  the  believer's  soul,  during  the  greater  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  were  seldom  heard  from  in  the 
Church-of-England  pulpits.  The  rationalistic  ten- 
dencies of  the  Church  rendered  it  little  obnoxious 
to  skeptics."  Leslie  Stephen  said  :  §  "  Hume  and 
Paley    curiously   agreed    in    recommending    young 

*  "  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,"  by  Mr.  Lecky,  vol.  ii 
p.  586.  t  Ibid.,  p.  341.  :]:  Ibid.,  p.  593. 

§  "  History  of  English  Thought  in  the  Eighteenth  Century." 


Faith.  105 

men  of  freethinking  tendencies  to  take  orders ;" 
and  that  "  the  skepticism  of  the  upper  classes  was 
willing  that  the  Church  should  survive,  though 
faith  might  perish."  Many  of  the  clergy  '*  taught 
but  little  that  might  not  have  been  taught  by  Soc- 
rates or  Confucius."  "  Dogmatic  teaching  had  dis- 
appeared from  the  pulpits  ;"  "  Christianity  was  re- 
duced to  the  lowest  terms,"  though  some  gave  it 
"  a  quasi  assent,  because  they  felt  it  to  be  essential 
to  society." 

I  have  given  but  a  partial  exhibit  of  the  facts, 
showing  the  dubious  prospects  of  religious  faith  in 
England,  in  the  first  half  of  the  last  century.  Many 
other  dark  shades  might  be  added  to  the  pictures. 
But  this  brief  portrayal  shows  that  the  peculiar  ten- 
dencies in  religious  thought,  which  we  have  recog- 
nized as  existing  in  our  day,  are  far  more  hopeful, 
and  less  radical,  less  widespread,  and  less  influ- 
ential, than  in  Great  Britain  a  century  and  a  half 
ago.  This  was  recently  admitted  in  the  "Spec- 
tator," and  yet,  said  the  writer,  "  English  unbelief 
melted  away,  and  was  succeeded  by  vehement  forms 
of  faith."     Mr.  Lecky  also  recognized  this  fact. 

A  similar  condition  of  things  existed  in  the 
United  States  in  the  last  two  decades  of  the  last 
century,  extending  somewhat  into  the  present  cent- 
ury. The  most  radical  and  revolting  forms  of  infi- 
delity prevailed  throughout  the  land.  It  especially 
infested    the    colleges   and    the    legislative    bodies. 


io6       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

The  leading  statesmen  were  Atheists  or  Deists. 
A  writer  in  the  "Index"*  said:  "All  the  great 
men  who  took  part  with  Mr.  Paine  in  laying  the 
foundations  of  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  with  very  few  exceptions,  held  the  same 
theological  sentiments,  although  they  did  not  pub- 
licly identify  themselves  with  him  in  his  attacks 
on  the  Church  and  its  religion.  And  they  would 
have  completely  revolutionized  the  sentiments 
of  the  American  people  but  for  the  influence 
of  George  Whitefield  and  John  Wesley."  Chan- 
cellor Kent  (1765-1847)  said,  t  "In  my  younger 
days  there  were  very  few  professional  men  that 
were  not  infidels ;  or  at  least  they  were  so  far  in- 
clined to  infidelity  that  they  could  not  be  called 
believers  in  the  truth  of  the  Bible."  Bishop 
Meade :}:  vividly  portrayed  the  prevalence  of  infi- 
delity in  Virginia  at  this  time.  Scarcely  a  young 
man  of  any  literary  culture  believed  in  Christianity. 
As  late  as  18 10,  he  said,  "  I  can  truly  say  that  in 
every  educated  young  man  in  Virginia  whom  I  met 
I  expected  to  find  a  skeptic,  if  not  an  avowed  un- 
believer." Said  Rev.  Lyman  Beecher :  §  "  The 
boys  who  dressed  flax  in  the  barn  read  Tom  Paine, 
and  believed  him."  Yale  College  was  pervaded 
with  infidelity,  and  the  dominant  habit  of  thought 

*  May  13.  1870. 

f  Conversation  with  Governor  Clinton,  of  New  York. 

%  "  Old  Churches  and  Families  of  Virginia."      §  "Autobiography  ' 


Faith.  107 

was  skeptical,  when  Dr.  Dwight  assumed  the  presi- 
dency in  1795,  only  four  or  five  of  the  students 
being  members  of  the  Church.  The  members  of 
the  first  Senior  Class  reciting  to  him  were  more 
familiarly  known  by  the  names  of  Diderot,  D'Alem- 
bert,  Voltaire,  Rousseau,  Robespierre,  Danton,  etc., 
which  they  had  assumed,  than  by  their  own.  To 
overcome  the  current  infidelity  taxed  Dr.  Dwight 
to  the  utmost,  but  he  triumphed.*  Princeton  Col- 
lege was  no  better,  and  William  and  Mary's  College 
was  called  a  hot-bed  of  infidelity.  Transylvania 
University,  in  Kentucky,  founded  by  the  Presby- 
terians, was  wrested  from  them  by  infidels.  At 
Bowdoin  College,  Me.,  in  the  early  period  of  the 
presidency  of  Rev.  Dr.  Appleton,  only  one  student 
was  willing  to  avow  himself  a  Christian.  Dr.  Ap- 
pleton "  stood  in  the  current  of  destruction,"  with 
prayers,  arguments,  and  pleadings,  "  long  before  he 
saw  the  tide  turning."  Mr.  Parton,  in  his  "  Life  of 
Aaron  Burr,"  speaking  of  the  infidelity  of  this  period, 
says  it  was  confidently  predicted  that  Christianity 
could  not  survive  two  more  generations. 

Dr.  Timothy  Dwight's  description  of  this  period 
will  remind  us  of  many  things  we  see  and  hear  in 
our  days; 

"Striplings,  scarcely  fledged,  suddenly  found  that 
the  world  had  been  involved  in  general  darkness 
through  the  long  succession  of  preceding  ages,  and 
*  See  "  Sketch  of  Dr.  Dwight's  Life,"  in  vo).  i  of  his  works. 


io8       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

that  the  light  of  wisdom  had  just  begun  to  dawn 
upon  the  human  race.  All  the  science,  all  the  in- 
formation, that  had  been  acquired  before  the  last 
thirty  or  forty  years  stood,  in  their  view,  for  noth- 
ing. Experience  they  boldly  proclaimed  a  plod 
ding  instructress,  who  taught  in  manners,  morals, 
and  government,  nothing  but  Abecedarian  lessons, 
fitted  only  for  children.  Religion  they  discovered, 
on  the  one  hand,  to  be  a  vision  of  dotards  and 
nurses ;  and,  on  the  other,  a  system  of  fraud  and 
trick,  imposed  by  priestcraft,  for  base  purposes, 
upon  the  ignorant  multitude.  Revelation  was 
found  to  be  without  authority  or  evidence,  and 
moral  obligation  a  cobweb,  which  might  indeed 
entangle  flies,  but  by  which  creatures  of  stronger 
wing  nobly  disdain  to  be  confined.  The  world, 
they  concluded  to  have  been  probably  eternal,  and 
matter  the  only  existence.  Man,  they  determined, 
sprang,  like  a  mushroom,  out  of  the  earth  by  a 
chemical  process ;  and  the  power  of  thinking, 
choice,  and  motivity  were  merely  the  result  of 
elective  affinities.  .  .  .  From  France,  Germany,  and 
Great  Britain  the  dregs  of  infidelity  were  vomited 
upon  us.  From  the  '  System  de  la  Nature '  and 
the  '  Philosophical  Dictionary  '  down  to  the  '  Po- 
litical Justice'  of  Godwin  and  the  'Age  of  Rea- 
son,' the  whole  mass  of  pollution  was  emptied 
upon  this  country.  The  last  two  publications 
flowed  in  upon  us  as  a  deluge.     An  enormous  edi- 


Faith.  109 

tion  of  the  *  Age  of  Reason  '  was  published  in 
France,  and  sent  over  to  America,  to  be  sold  at  a 
few  pence  per  copy,  and,  where  it  could  not  be  sold, 
to  be  given  away."  * 

Rev.  Dr.  Baird  said  f  of  this  period  :  '  Wild  and 
vague  expectations  were  every-where  entertained, 
especially  among  the  young,  of  a  new  order  of 
things  about  to  commence,  in  which  Christianity 
would  be  laid  aside  as  an  obsolete  system."  When 
Rev.  Dr.  Nathan  Strong  became  pastor  of  the  Con- 
gregational Church,  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  in  1774, 
there  were  only  fifteen  male  members  in  the  Church, 
and  the  spirit  of  infidelity  was  already  rife  in  all 
the  larger  towns.  "  The  religion  of  Christ  and  its 
ministers  were  often  the  subjects  of  open  ridicule 
and  contempt,  even  on  the  part  of  those  who  were 
regarded  as  being  entitled  to  the  first  standing  in 
society."  "  Mr.  Strong  was  not  unfrequently  at- 
tacked in  public  places  by  some  of  this  class  of 
persons,  who,  under  the  guise  of  a  pleasant  raillery, 
sought  to  inflict  a  wound  upon  his  feelings,  and  to 
sink  him  and  his  office  in  the  deference  of  the 
thoughtless  bystanders." :}: 

There  was  also  a  vast  amount  of  what  was  called 
'heretical"  sentiment  in  the  Churches.  The  Uni- 
versalist  denomination  was  just  starting  ;  the  Chris- 

*  Dwight's  "Travels,"  vol.  iv,  pp.  376,  379,  380. 

■{•"Religion  in  America." 

J  "American  Quarterly  Register,"  Nov.,  1840,  p.  132. 


no       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

tians  had  a  small  commencement,  in  1801  ;  the 
Unitarian  break  did  not  come  until  1815-1830,  and 
the  Hicksite  Friend  movement  until  1827.  All  the 
"  orthodox  "  bodies  were  largely  pervaded  by  the 
leaven  of  Arian,  Socinian,  restoration,  and  no-fu' 
ture-punishment  ideas.  As  we  survey  present  in- 
dications, it  is  difficult  to  conceive  the  extent  of 
their  prevalence  at  that  time  in  the  Churches  of 
"  evangelical  "  Protestantism  —  an  infection  from 
English  and  European  sources,  running  back,  as 
we  have  seen,  through  Papal  lines  in  Italy  and  the 
gardens  of  the  Medici,  to  ante-mediaeval  times, 
though  in  part  a  revolt  from  High  Calvinism. 

A  Congregational  pastor,  Rev.  Dr.  Huntington, 
of  Coventry,  Conn.,  wrote  the  first  book  ever  pub- 
lished in  this  country  advocating  the  "  death-and- 
glory "  doctrine,  subsequently  so  conspicuous  in 
the  teachings  of  Rev.  Hosea  Ballou.  And  Rev. 
Dr.  Strong,  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  in  answering  it,  in 
1796,  deplored  the  extensive  prevalence  of  those 
sentiments  in  the  "evangelical"  Churches.  A  Con- 
gregational pastor.  Rev.  Charles  Chauncey,  D.D., 
of  Boston,  and  a  Baptist  minister,  Rev.  Elhanan 
Winchester,  of  Philadelphia,  wrote  the  first  books 
in  favor  of  Restorationism  published  in  America. 

Boston  Congregationalism,  comprising  nine 
Churches,  had  become  substantially  Unitarian,  and 
only  waited  for  a  convenient  time  to  take  the 
name.     Nine  towns  within  ten  miles  of  Boston  had 


Faith.  i  t  i 

no  Congregational  Church  which  remained  tnie  to 
orthodoxy.  "  In  1800,"  said  Dr.  Bradford,*  "  it  was 
confidently  believed  there  was  not  a  strict  Trinitarian 
clergyman  [Congregational]  in  Boston."  Rev.  Dr. 
Eckky,  at  the  "  Old  South,"  was  variously  regarded 
as  a  "  High  Arian,"  a  "  Semi-Arian,"  or  a  Socin- 
ian  ;  and  his  Church,  in  the  language  of  Dr.  Lyman 
Beecher,  "  was  shivering  in  the  wind,"  and  accord- 
ing to  Dr.  Bacon,  "  if  an  exception,  might  cease  to 
be  an  exception  "  to  the  general  Unitarian  revolt. 
The  most  intense  opposition  to  "  evangelical"  ideas 
pervaded  the  higher  social  and  cultured  classes, 
and  dominated  Boston.  The  little  nucleus  of  de- 
voted Trinitarians  which  organized  the  Park-street 
Church,  in  1809,  was  called  to  endure  an  amount  of 
opposition  and  obloquy  unknown  in  more  recent 
times,  for  the  major  sentiment  of  the  city  was  over- 
whelmingly  against  them.  When  Rev.  Dr.  E.  D. 
Griffin  entered  upon  the  pastorate  of  the  Church, 
in  181 1,  his  task  called  for  a  stout  heart  and  a  bold 
hand.  The  current  of  prevailing  thought  was  so 
averse  to  evangelical  religion,  that  to  raise  a  voice 
in  its  defense  was  to  hazard  one's  reputation  among 
respectable  people.  "  The  finger  of  scorn  was 
pointed  at  him,  and  he  had  to  breast  a  tide  of  mis- 
representation and  calumny,  of  opposition  and  ha- 
tred, which  would  have  overwhelmed  him  if  he  had 
not  the  spirituality  of  an  apostle  and  the  strength 

*  "  Life  of  Dr.  Mayhew." 


112       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

of  a  giant."*  Attracted  by  reports  of  Dr.  Griffin's 
genius  and  eloquence,  gentlemen  of  culture  and 
standing  occasionally  ventured  into  the  church  to 
hear  his  Sunday  evening  lectures,  but  in  partial 
"  disguise  " — so  unpopular  was  it  to  visit  an  evan- 
gelical church  —  sitting  "in  obscure  corners,  with 
caps  drawn  over  their  faces,  and  wrappers  turned 
inside  out."t 

This  condition  of  religious  sentiment  dominated 
Eastern  Massachusetts,  and  more  or  less  pervaded 
other  localities  throughout  the  State.  The  ortho- 
dox historian  of  Massachusetts  Congregationalism 
says,  that  of  two  hundred  Congregational  Churches, 
east  of  Worcester  County,  not  more  than  two  in 
five  were  under  evangelical  pastors.  In  1795,  Socin- 
ian  ideas,  from  reading  Dr.  Priestley's  writings  by 
members  of  the  parish,  drove  Dr.  Jonathan  Ed- 
wards, 2d,  from  his  Church,  in  New  Haven,  Con- 
necticut, as  similar  notions  had  driven  his  fathei 
from  Northampton  forty  years  before.  The  Bishops 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  in  their  Pastoral 
Address,  in  1816,  deplored  the  prevalence  of  Arian 
and  Socinian  notions  in  their  denomination.  No  de- 
nomination was  wholly  exempt,  so  extensive  had  be- 
come the  infection  originally  exhaled  from  the  bosom 
of  Rome,  before  the  birth  of  Protestantism,  and  as 
sailing  her  theology  in  every  period  of  her  history. 

*  "American  Quarterly  Register,"  1840,  p.  374. 
f  A  Statement,  by  Rev.  Nehemiah  Adams,  D.D. 


Faith.  113 

During  the  period  from  1800  to  1830  there  were 
numerous  schisms,  secessions,  and  withdrawals  from 
the  evangelical  Churches,  which  entered  into  the 
formation  of  the  Unitarian,  Universalist,  Christian, 
and  the  Hicksite  bodies,  thus  relieving  the  evangel- 
ical Churches  of  these  heterogeneous  elements.  At 
this  time,  too,  under  the  leadership  of  Rev.  Rosea 
Ballou,  Univcrsalism  took  on  its  Arian  type. 

During  the  same  period  the  infidels  in  Europe  re- 
newed their  efforts  to  uphold  their  cause.  Between 
1817  and  1830  5,768,900  volumes  of  the  works  of 
Voltaire,  Rousseau,  and  other  infidel  writers  were 
circulated  on  the  Continent.* 

But  if  these  dark  periods  had  their  bold  doubt- 
ers and  deniers,  they  also  had  "  hearts  of  faith  and 
tono-ues  of  fire."  God  has  never  been  without  stand- 
ard-bearers— the  true  "spiritual  pontificate" — the 
heroic  succession,  whose  lineage  is  divine.  Under 
such  leadership  the  spell  of  unbelief,  in  England 
and  America,  was  broken,  and  the  desolating  hosts 
were  turned  back.  Within  the  past  thirty  years 
they  have  rallied  and  assailed  Christianity  again, 
without  and  within ;  but  this  time  they  have  been 
unable,  even  temporarily,  to  check  the  progress  of 
the  Churches.  Our  banners  have  uninterruptedly 
advanced,  even  more  than  in  any  previous  period 
in  the  history  of  Christianity. 

But  more  than  this  should  be  said.     Already  we 

*  "American  Quarterly  Registei,"  August,  1830,  p.  33. 


114      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

discern  indications  that  the  skepticism  of  our  times 
is  staggering  and  receding.  As  English  Deism, 
French  Atheism,  and  the  Old  Rationalism  of  Ger- 
many, have  been  successively  dismissed  by  thinking 
men,  so  also  the  mythical  Rationalism  of  Strauss, 
Bauer,  and  the  Tiibingen  critics,  has  run  its  course 
Pantheism  has  lost  its  prestige ;  Materialism  is  en- 
countering among  its  friends  "  significant  shrugs  of 
suspicion  and  dissent ;  "  skeptical  scientists  are  be- 
coming weary  in  their  long  and  fruitless  waitings 
for  the  foundations  of  religious  hope  to  be  laid  in 
irrefragable  axioms ;  Spiritism  has  come  to  disgrace 
by  the  foulness  of  its  tendencies,  the  monstrosity 
of  its  claims  and  the  gigantic  frauds  of  its  seances ; 
IngersoUism  has  damned  itself  with  its  terrible  blas- 
phemies ;  and  Free  Religion  is  only  a  respectable 
annual  spectacular  parade  of  many-shaded  inquirers, 
rapidly  decreasing  in  number. 

Is  it  said  that  the  evangelical  Churches  have  lost 
their  hold  upon  the  intellect  of  the  age?  How,  and 
wherein?  When  was  it  equally  identified  with  the 
best,  the  most  vigorous,  and  the  most  learned  cult- 
ure ?  It  is  a  matter  of  clear  demonstration  *  that  the 
students  in  the  colleges  of  the  evangelical  Churches 
in  fifty-four  years  (1830  to  1884)  increased  twice 
as  much,  relatively,  as  the  population  of  the  coun- 
try, and  also   that  a  half  more,   relatively,  of  the 

*  See  Chapter  on  "  Protestant  Progress  in  the  United  States  ; "  also 
"  Table  of  Colleges  "  in  the  Appendix. 


Faith.  i  i  5 

students  in  those  colleges  are  professing  Christians 
than  fifty  years  ago.  The  colleges  of  the  evangel- 
ical Churches  increased  eight  fold,  and  the  popula- 
tion three  and  a  half  fold.  These  things  indicate- 
that  evangelical  Christianity  is  fully  identified  with 
the  advanced  educational  movements  of  society,  and 
entrenched  in  the  highest  institutions  of  culture. 

The  editor*  of  a  leading  religious  journal,  a  man 
whose  scholarship,  culture,  and  breadth  of  Christian 
fellowship  are  conspicuous,  recently  said  : 

"  It  is  one  of  the  most  familiar  incidents  in  the  re- 
ports of  modern  sermons  delivered  in  '  liberal '  pul- 
pits, and  in  the  pages  of  periodicals  published  under 
the  patronage  of  the  people  who  listen  to  such  dis- 
courses, to  find  the  assertion,  in  various  forms,  that 
what  are  termed  evangelical  views  of  revealed  truth 
— such  as  those  relating  to  sin  and  its  retribution, 
to  the  triune  personality  of  the  Godhead,  to  the 
vicarious  sufferings  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  the  re- 
newal of  nature  and  character  through  faith  in  the 
Son  of  God — have  become  obsolete  in  the  denom- 
inations which  professedly  hold  them,  and  that  it  is 
only  through  disingenuousness  that  many  minis- 
ters and  members  still  remain  in  connection  with 
Churches  that  hold  to  these  doctrines  as  their  creed. 
It  is  affirmed  that  they  are  rarely  preached  from  the 
pulpit,  that  they  are  often  disclaimed  by  ministers 

*  Rev.  Bradford  K.  Peirce,  D.D.,  in  "Zion's  Herald,"  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  August,  1880. 


ii6       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

of  orthodox  Churches,  and  that  they  are  not  ac- 
cepted by  the  membership. 

"  Now,  if  these  preachers  and  writers  of  '  liberal ' 
views  simply  mean  to  say  that  there  has  been  a 
great  change  in  what  may  be  called  the  philosophy 
of  religion — in  the  development  of  a  system  of  hu  • 
man  discipline  from  the  love  rather  than  from  the 
sovereignty  of  God — or  if  they  affirm  only  that  the 
necessary  fruits  of  faith  in  a  life  of  obedience  and 
holy  charities  are  more  emphasized  than  they  were 
when  the  early  Protestants  were  insisting  upon  faith 
in  contradistinction  to  the  prevailing  sacramental 
popery  of  the  hour,  or  that  the  future  retributions 
of  sin  are  urged  in  less  figurative  and  material 
forms,  little  objection  would  be  made  to  the  state- 
ment. But  if  it  is  meant  that  there  is  any  serious 
weakening  throughout  the  evangelical  Churches  on 
what  is  vital  in  these  truths,  we  must  say,  the  per- 
sons that  hold  these  opinions  have  generalized  too 
rapidly  from  very  narrow  premises.  In  large  cities 
and  considerable  towns  there  may  be  found,  over 
certain  Churches  of  a  special  character,  men  of 
strong,  original  characteristics,  of  marked  popular 
gifts,  and  usually  of  no  inconsiderable  self-conceit, 
who  studiously  shun  the  common  modes  of  express- 
ing and  interpreting  the  doctrines  of  Revelation, 
and  are  disposed  to  give  great  prominence  to  the 
relative  duties  of  life.  These  men  can  all  be  readi- 
ly numbered  on  the  fingers  of  one  hand.     And  it  is 


Faith.  117 

noticeable,  in  nearly  every  case,  that  when  these  men 
are  called  upon  by  ecclesiastical  bodies  or  by  the 
public  press  to  define  their  position,  they  are  ready 
to  affirm  that,  in  their  own  forms  of  expression, 
they  hold  all  the  vital  doctrines  of  evangelical  Prot- 
estantism. Even  Mr.  Beecher,  far  the  most  inde- 
pendent man  of  this  description,  and  most  disposed 
to  tear  in  pieces  formal  creeds  and  traditional  forms 
of  religious  expression,  after  one  of  his  most  abrupt 
and  apparently  positive  renunciations  of  certain 
orthodox  beliefs,  hastens  at  his  earliest  opportunity 
in  a  succeeding  discourse,  in  view  of  the  public 
comments,  to  say  that,  with  his  own  explanation 
of  them,  he  still  holds  the  evangelical  as  distin- 
guished from  the  liberal  interpretation  of  the  divine 
nature  and  the  New  Testament  plan  of  salvation. 

"  But  outside  of  these  well-known  pulpits  and  a 
few  periodicals,  the  great  body  of  ministers  and 
members  in  the  orthodox  Churches  are  entirely  at 
rest  in  reference  to  their  catechisms.  Our  theolog- 
ical seminaries,  those  which  are  not  Arminian,  while 
largely  modifying  the  Calvinistic  philosophy  of  pre- 
vious centuries,  have  found  no  difficulty  in  ex- 
pounding the  Scriptures  in  the  light  of  pronounced 
evangelical  views.  Modern  destructive  biblical  crit- 
icism has  had  no  perceptible  influence  in  shaking 
the  faith  of  those  institutions  in  the  authenticity 
and  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  In  spite  of 
the  busy  activity  of  this  school  of  critics,  there  never 


ii8      Problem  of  Religious  Progress 

was  an  hour  when  so  many  commentaries,  written 
by  accomplished  Hebrew  and  Greek  scholars,  were 
published  oi  so  widely  distributed.  All  that  is  val- 
uable, that  can  stand  sifting  in  this  criticism,  has 
been  accepted,  and  a  clearer  and  better  interpreta- 
tion of  the  Bible  has  been  secured ;  but  not  one  of 
the  doctrines  of  the  Nicene  creed  has  been  touched 
by  this  criticism,  or  any  important  excisions  made 
in  the  received  canon  of  Scripture. 

"  Take  the  great  national  Churches,  more  than 
keeping  pace,  as  they  do,  with  the  growth  of  popu- 
lation— the  Baptist,  the  Presbyterian,  and  the  Meth- 
odist— and  upon  these  millions  of  members  scarcely 
any  appreciable  impression  has  been  made  by  these 
modern  liberal  views.  All  over  the  land  the  old 
and  impressive  truths  of  Revelation,  sanctioned  by 
a  Book  in  which  the  hearers  have  not  the  slightest 
distrust  as  to  its  divine  origin  and  as  accepted 
through  the  ages,  are  preached  every  Sabbath,  and 
taught  to  susceptible  childhood  in  the  Sunday- 
schools.  The  Episcopal  Church  every-where  utters 
its  positive  creed  and  sings  its  sublime  evangelical 
anthems,  as  if  a  liberal  discourse  had  never  been 
preached  or  destructive  criticism  never  laid  its 
hand  upon  any  sacred  text.  The  Roman  Church, 
with  its  millions  of  believers  in  its  professed  infall- 
ible truth,  goes  on  year  after  year  peremptoiily 
affirming  these  articles  of  faith.  There  could  be 
nothing  more  unsustained  by  the  facts  than  these 


Faith.  119 

assertions  that  the  evangelical  views  have  become, 
or  in  any  wise,  as  the  signs  of  the  times  indicate, 
are  liable  to  become,  obsolete.  The  great  revivals 
of  religion,  occurring  in  the  centers  of  population 
and  among  multitudes  liable  to  deteriorate  morally, 
more  than  supply  any  loss  that  may  happen  from 
the  lapse  of  certain  professed  evangelical  teachers, 
or  the  deterioration  of  vital  faith  on  the  part  of 
worldly  members  of  wealthy  Churches." 

The  foregoing  facts  show  that  the  tendencies,  in 
our  times,  to  what  has  been  styled  "  advanced 
thought,"  are  not  new  ;  that  it  is  not  new  for  men 
of  education  and  literary  taste  to  assail  "  evangel- 
ical"  theology,  or  even  Christianity  itself;  that  the 
forces  now  assailing  Christianity  and  sacrificial  or- 
thodoxy are  less  numerous,  less  dominant,  and  less 
influential  than  in  the  two  previous  periods  of  un- 
belief within  the  last  one  hundred  and  eighty  years  ; 
that  skeptical  thought  repeats  itself  in  varying  forms 
and  in  intermitting  waves  ;  and  that  out  of  each  pe- 
riod of  darkness  and  doubt  Christianity  has  emerged 
to  achieve  greater  conquests  than  before.  The  re- 
vival and  wonderful  progress  of  evangelical  Protest- 
antism in  England  since  the  first  half  of  the  last 
century,  has  become  one  of  the  palpable  and  incon- 
trovertible facts  of  history,  and  its  unparalleled 
growth,  in  this  country,  during  the  present  century, 
is  not  less  indisputable.  In  another  place  the  facts 
of  its  progress  will  be  fully  demonstrated.     Never 


I20      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

before  was  there  so  much  intellect  and  culture  de- 
voted to  the  vindication  and  propagation  of  evan- 
gelical religion  as  at  the  present  time. 

In  and  around  Boston,  in  the  year  iSoo,  the 
liberal  Churches,  so  called,  immensely  prepo!ider- 
ated  in  influence,  wealth,  and  number,  over  the 
evangelical  Churches.  It  is  difficult  for  us  now  to 
appreciate  the  situation  then,  when  within  a  radius 
of  ten  miles  around  Boston  there  were  twenty-three 
liberal  Churches  to  eighteen  evangelical,  and  in 
nine  towns  there  were  no  Churches  which,  in  the 
schism  that  soon  followed,  remained  true  to  ortho- 
doxy. In  1894,  within  the  same  limits,  there  are 
three  hundred  and  fifty-eight  evangelical  Churches 
to  ninety-three  liberal  Churches,  the  former  gaining 
three  hundred  and  forty  and  the  latter  about  seventy. 
Morally  and  socially,  the  evangelical  gain  has  been 
even  greater.  The  "Harvard  Advocate"  recently 
stated  a  kindred  fact.  Inquiries  extending  through 
fourteen  hundred  graduates  of  Harvard  College, 
within  the  last  few  years,  show  only  two  skeptics,  one 
an  Atheist  and  the  other  an  Agnostic,  and  never 
before  were  there  so  many  evangelical  Church  mem- 
bers among  the  students  of  that  institution.  How 
different  from  the  condition  of  the  colleges  in  1800! 


CHAPTER  IV. 
DELIVERANCE 

Restatement. 
Vindieation. 
Rejuvenation. 
True  Ideal. 


Faith.  123 


CHAPTER  IV. 

DELIVERANCE. 

'nr^HE  purification  of  theology,  under  the  modi- 
-^  fying  processes  noticed  in  previous  pages,  has 
been  sometimes  mistaken  for  disintegration  and  de- 
cay. But  the  changes  have  chiefly  related  to  surface 
forms  rather  than  to  central  truths,  to  the  husk 
rather  than  to  the  kernel ;  while  some  things  once 
magnified  are  now  minified,  and  others  once  in  the 
background  are  now  brought  to  the  front.  A  purging 
process  has  been  apparent  in  religious  phraseology 
and  never  more  so  than  at  the  present  time.  Great 
advances  have  been  made  in  purifying  and  simplify- 
ing Christian  doctrine  and  in  developing  fuller  con- 
ceptions of  the  truth.  Never,  since  the  days  of 
primitive  Christianity,  has  the  liberation  from  arbi- 
trary systems  been  so  complete ;  and  never  before 
has  Christian  truth  stood  upon  conditions  so  favor- 
able to  the  best  and  most  enduring  influence.  We 
have  learned  that  no  setting  of  the  truth  in  systems 
of  human  construction  can  save  it  or  make  it  effect- 
ive. Truth,  in  its  purest  and  simplest  forms,  is  its 
own  best  conservator  and  advocate. 

Under  Edwards,  Hopkins,  and  the  Andover  and 


124      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

New  Haven  theologians  successively,  Calvinism  has 
undergone  great  modifications.  The  thought  of  the 
age,  and  especially  the  Arminian  theology,  have 
continually  warred  against  it,  producing  a  wide- 
spread revulsion.  The  doctrine  of  the  imputation 
of  Adam's  guilt  to  his  posterity;  the  old  Calvinistic 
view  of  depravity,  which  represented  unregenerate 
men  as  just  as  bad  as  they  can  be,  and  capable  of 
acting  only  in  the  direction  of  evil  ;  and  the  theory 
that  regeneration  is  effected  by  irresistible  grace 
effectually  calling  and  saving  men,  are  only  faintly 
shadowed  in  any  of  the  writings  of  this  age ;  while 
the  coarser  and  more  offensive  features  of  reproba- 
tion, infant  damnation,  etc.,  are  rapidly  dropping 
out  of  sight.  Few  American  preachers — we  doubt 
if  one  can  be  found — will  allow  Calvin's  "  Institutes  " 
to  be  their  theological  standard.  Calvinism,  whether 
sublapsarian  or  supralapsarian,  is  now  seldom  ut- 
tered in  pulpits.  The  religious  consciousness  rec- 
ognizes it  as  effete,  or  as  rapidly  becoming  so,  not- 
withstanding an  occasional  quasi-ratification  of  the 
Westminster  Catechism. 

In  the  spring  of  1894  one  of  the  leading  Con- 
gregational (orthodox)  churches  in  Boston  settled  a 
very  talented  young  minister  who,  in  his  examina- 
tion before  the  council,  gave  utterances  which  show 
the  recent  drift  of  thought,  and  also  how  closely  the 
best  progressive  minds  cling  to  the  old  moorings. 
He  said :  "  I  am  conservative  in  this,  that  I  appre- 


Faith.  123 

date  the  heritage  we  have  received  from  the  past. 
I  am  progressive  in  this,  that  I  believe  that  to  be  as 
good  as  our  fathers  we  must  be  better,  that  the  faith 
once  dehvered  to  the  saints  was  not  a  set  of  fossil- 
ized formulas,  but  a  faith  that  grows  larger  and  bet- 
ter continually."  "  I  have  no  quarrel  with  the  creeds 
or  with  theology,  so  long  as  it  is  understood  that  life 
is  their  master,  not  their  servant."  "  On  all  mat- 
ters of  eschatology  I  am  very  modest.  The  language 
of  Scripture  is  largely  that  of  parable  and  apocalypse, 
and  nineteen  centuries  of  interpretation  of  this  kind 
of  literature  tends  to  make  one  careful  how  he  de- 
duces a  scientific  statement  from  it,  or  makes  it  the 
basis  of  a  clear,  definite  conviction."  'T  have  very 
little  interest  in  the  debate  about,  a  future  probation. 
It  does  not  furnish  sufficient  relief  from  the  pressure 
of  the  great  questions  about  human  destiny  to  make 
it  worth  contending  for."  "  It  is  not  for  the  Church 
to  give  instructions  as  to  how  a  man  shall  carry  on 
his  business  nor  to  become  a  factor  in  its  organized 
capacity  in  political  campaigns,  but  it  is  to  furnish 
the  motives  and  the  inspiration  which  shall  enable 
men  to  meet  the  crises  that  come  and  to  do  the 
work  of  the  community." 

The  doctrine  of  vicarious  atonement,  while  firmly 
held  as  substitutional,  is  no  longer  preached  as  a 
ransom  of  war,  or  a  commercial  equivalent ;  and 
Christ  is  not  often  portrayed  as  a  culprit,  shrinking 
under  the  bolts  of  his  Father's  personal  wrath,  and 


126      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

sinking  to  the  misery  of  the  damned.  Literal  fire 
and  brimstone,  as  the  final  portion  of  lost  souls,  is 
now  generally  discarded,  although  held  by  restora- 
tionists  and  evangelicals  alike  within  the  present 
century.*  The  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  no  longer 
savors  of  Tritheism.  The  six  creative  periods  are 
now  interpreted  by  only  a  few  scholars  as  six  literal 
days.  The  theory  of  literal  verbal  inspiration  has 
fewer  advocates  than  formerly.  Very  considerable 
modification  in  the  principles  and  methods  of  bibli- 
cal interpretation  have  taken  place.  These  are  a 
few  of  the  more  noticeable  changes. 

But  with  these  changes  the  central  thoughts  in 
all  these  doctrines  remain.  Striking  to  the  core, 
we  find  them  still  cherished  b}^  the  Churches. 
Take  the  great  working  doctrines  of  Christianity, 
strip  off  the  husks,  and  state  them  in  their  simple 
forms :  there  is  a  personal  Deity ;  God  is  a  sover- 
eign ;  he  is  a  being  of  infinite  perfections ;  he  is  the 
ultimate  source  of  life  and  being;  a  mysterious 
Threeness,  so  distinct  as  to  justify  the  use  of  three 
distinct  names  and  the  personal  pronouns,  is  united 
in  the  oneness  of  the  Godhead  ;  the  Bible  is  the 
divinely  inspired  Book ;  it  is  so  inspired  as  to  be 
the  authoritative  rule  of  faith  and  practice  ;  the  soul 
is  immaterial  and  immortal ;  man  is  accountable 
to  God  ;  he  is  so  depraved  and  weak  as  to  need  a 

*  See  "  Discourses  on  tlie  Prophecies,"  by  Rev.  Elhaiian  Win- 
chester, 1800,  vol.  ii,  pp.  86,  131,  132. 


Faith.  127 

Saviour;  he  must  be  spiritually  changed  in  order 
to  rise  into  harmony  with  holiness ;  whatever  edu- 
cation or  culture  may  do,  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the 
efficient  agent  in  effecting  this  change ;  supreme 
Deity  was  embodied  in  the  personage  Christ  Jesus; 
the  death  of  Christ  and  his  resurrection  is  the  sole 
basis  of  pardon  and  ground  of  liope  for  sinners;  the 
effects  of  faith  in  Christ  are  the  love  of  God  shed 
abroad  in  the  heart  and  a  new  life ;  Christ  will  per- 
sonally come  the  second  time ;  he  will  raise  the 
dead  ;  there  will  be  a  day  of  future  general  judg- 
ment, and  a  state  of  fixedness  of  character  involving 
endless  retribution  and  reward  in  the  future  world. 
These  vital  centers  of  the  doctrines  of  Christianity 
are  held,  with  little  dissent,  by  all  the  denomina- 
tions of  evangelical  Protestantism.  The  exceptions 
are  exceedingly  rare  among  men  capable  of  con- 
structing a  system,  and  there  is  no  prospect  of  a 
change  in  these  essential  elements.  Christianity  is 
losing  nothing  of  its  inherent  original  self — only 
that  which  human  imperfection,  subtlety,  and  folly 
have  attached  to  it,  trammeling  and  falsifying  it. 

The  discussion  of  the  "Higher  Criticism"  of 
which  we  have  heard  so  much  of  late,  and  which 
has  produced  alarm  in  some  quarters,  is  likely  to 
bring  results  quite  helpful  rather  than  seriously 
harmful.  Many  of  the  points  agitated  are  not  new 
to  the  best  scholars,  who  long  ago  developed  all 
we  now  know  about  the  age,  unity,  and  authorship 


128      Problem  of  Religiol.-.  Progress. 

of  the  Pentateuch,  of  Isaiah,  and  of  Daniel,  etc.,  and 
notwithstanding  the  slight  shock  to  the  faith  of  a 
few  immature,  venturesome  speculators,  the  Holy 
Scriptures  are  likely  to  be  better  understood,  and 
still  serve  as  the  source,  the  guide,  and  the  guardian 
of  the  faith  of  Christendom.  The  question  of 
errancy  or  inerrancy  has  narrowed  down  to  one  of 
scholastic  criticism  of  the  text  and  verbiage,  while 
the  Old  Book  still  remains  as  the  true  and  only 
inerrant  guide  to  eternal  life,  for  all  sincerely  in- 
quiring souls — its  highest  value. 

Some  persons,  not  clearly  discriminating,  in  their 
first  acceptance  of  the  doctrine  of  inspiration,  believed 
too  much,  more  than  was  possible  from  the  nature  of 
the  case,  making  no  allowance  for  unavoidable  imper- 
fections in  ancient  manuscripts,  for  palpable  diffi- 
culties in  chronology,  for  progress  in  the  science  of 
interpretation,  and  questions  of  authorship  ever 
held  in  abeyance  by  the  best  biblical  critics.  Hence 
they  have  had  trouble  in  readjusting  their  ideas. 

Modern  philosophy  and  science,  either  directly  or 
indirectly,  have  confirmed  many  of  the  fundamental 
tenets  of  evangelical  theology. 

The  Kantian  philosophy,  rising  little  later  than 
German  rationalism,  exerted  an  important  and  rela- 
tively ennobling  influence  upon  rationalistic  theol- 
ogy, and  upon  other  currents  of  modern  thought. 
"  Immanuel  Kant,"  says  Kiirtz,  "saved  philosophy 


•'T    Faith.  129 

from  superficial  self-sufficiency  and  quackery,  and 
led  it  out  upon  the  arena  of  a  mental  conflict  un- 
paralleled in  power,  energy,  extent,  and  continuance. 
Kant's  philosophy  stood  altogether  outside  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  upon  the  same  ground  with  theological 
rationalism.  Nevertheless,  by  digging  deep  into 
this  ground,  it  brought  out  much  superior  ore,  of 
whose  existence  vulgar  rationalism  had  no  idea,  and 
became,  without  wishing  or  knowing  it,  a  school- 
master to  Christ  in  manifold  ways.  Kant  demon- 
strated the  impossibility  of  a  knowledge  of  super- 
sensuous  things  by  means  of  the  pure  reason,  but 
acknowledged  the  ideas  of  God,  freedom,  and  im- 
mortality, as  postulates  of  the  practical  reason, 
and  as  the  principle  of  all  religion  whose  con- 
tents are  above  the  moral  law." 

Kant's  philosophical  writings  are  only  a  single 
example  of  the  many  contributions  of  modern  phi- 
losophy to  the  cause  of  religious  truth.  They  have 
modified  the  various  forms  of  radical  doubt,  and  the 
lines  of  true  speculation  are  converging  more  and 
more  to  the  lines  of  Christian  truth. 

When  we  closely  analyze  the  situation  we  find 
little  blank  Atheism  in  the  world,  and  whatever  of 
Atheism  and  Pantheism  does  exist  appears  almost 
wholly  in  speculative  forms,  tentatively  put  forth, 
in  connection  with  individual  efforts,  to  explore  the 
nature  and  mode  of  the  Infinite.  While  Hartmann 
professedly  holds  atheistic  opinions,  his  philosophy 


130       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

sometimes  leans  toward  Theism  ;  for  he  talks  of  the 
'■'  One  Identical  Subject,"  "  One  Absolute  Subject." 
In  some  form,  though  often  imperfect  and  unsatis- 
factory to  us,  the  existence  of  the  Supreme  Being 
is  recognized  by  skeptical,  philosophical,  and  scien- 
tific writers.  We  seem  to  be  doubling  the  Cape  of 
Fear  as  to  the  effect  of  natural  science  upon  specu- 
lative Theism,  notwithstanding  the  God  of  scientific 
Theism  is  a  different  being  from  the  God  of  Chris- 
tian Theism — often  only  the  force,  personal  or  im- 
personal, behind  all  phenomena.  But  this  is  a  step 
far  in  advance  of  the  blank  Atheism  and  the  Athe- 
istic theory  of  chance,  so  popular  a  hundred  years 
ago. 

Heinholtz  said,  "If  we  direct. our  attention  to  the 
progress  of  science,  as  a  whole,  we  shall  have  to 
judge  of  it  by  the  measure  in  which  the  recognition 
and  knowledge  of  a  causative  connection,  embracing 
all  phenomena,  has  advanced."  Kant  said,  "  The 
great  whole  would  sink  into  the  abyss  of  nothing,  if 
we  did  not  admit  something  originally  and  independ- 
ently external  to  this  infinite  contingent,  and  as 
the  cause  of  its  origin."  "  Atheism,"  said  Comt^, 
"  is  a  consecration  of  ignoble  metaphysical  sophismS; 
the  last  and  least  durable  of  all  metaphysical 
phases,  *  inferior  to  the  rudest  philosophy  of  The- 
ism,' and  '  the  natural  adversary  of  the  positive ' 
spirit."  "  I  am  no  atheist,"  Comt6  protested  warm- 
ly to  a  visitor,  two  years  before  his  death  ;  "  my  at- 


Faith.  131 

titude  is  that  of  belief:  if  not,  I  should  have  no  right 
to  treat  of  these  matters.      If  you  will  have  a  theory 

of  existence,  an  intelligent  will  is  the  best  you  can 
have."  *  Herbert  Spencer,  while  professedly  dis- 
carding the  accepted  idea  of  God,  as  the  creator  of 
all  things  or  of  any  thing,  and  pushing  back  the  first 
great  cause  as  far  as  possible,  like  others  of  his  kind, 
sometimes  falls  back  upon  anthropomorphic  con- 
ceptions of  deity,  and  speaks  of  the  "  Incomprehen- 
sible Existence,"  the  "  Unknown  Cause,"  the  "  In- 
conceivable Greatness."  "  From  the  very  necessity 
of  thinking  in  relatives,"  he  says,  "  the  relative  is 
inconceivable,  except  as  related  to  a  real  non-rela- 
tive."! Professor  Tyndall  said,  "The  idea  of  Cre- 
ative Power  is  as  necessary  to  the  production  of  a 
single  original  form  as  to  that  of  a  multitude."  % 
Professor  John  Fiske  has  said,  "  Provided  we  bear 
in  mind  the  symbolic  character  of  our  words,  we 
may  say, '  God  is  a  Spirit.'  "  §  And  Mr.  R.  W.  Em- 
erson, after  having  long  dwelt  in  the  dreamy  soli- 
tudes of  Pantheism,  has  come  to  be,  in  the  estima- 
tion of  his  intimate  friend,  Mr.  Alcott,  a  Chris- 
tian Theist. 

The  Bible,  so  sharply  and  extensively  assailed  by 
scientists  during  the  last  fifty  years,  is  rapidly 
emerging  from  the  conflict. 

♦See  review  in  "Christian  Examiner,"  July,  1857,  pp.  25-27. 
♦  "  First  Principles,"  p.  96.  %  Belfast  Address. 

§"  Cosmic  Philosophy,"  vol.  ii,  p.  449. 


132       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

It  is  a  common  statement  that  the  highest  teach- 
ers of  science  do  not  now  give  as  much  cognizance 
to  Agnostic  unbelief  as  fifteen  or  twenty  years  ago. 
From  Faraday,  Sir  John  Herschel,  Agassiz,  Dana, 
Guyot,  etc.,  downward,  the  ranks  of  science  have 
held'  many  men  eminent  for  faith  in  Christianity. 
Alluding  to  the  branch  of  science  of  which  Pro- 
fessors Huxley  and  Tyndall  were  distinguished  ex- 
pounders, Professor  Tait,  of  Edinburgh,  declared:* 

Science  enables  us  distinctly  to  say,  that  the  present  order 
of  things  has  not  been  evolved  through  infinite  time  past,  by 
the  agency  of  laws  now  at  work,  but  must  have  had  a  dis- 
tinctive beginning,  a  state  beyond  which  we  are  totally  unable 
to  penetrate  ;  a  state,  in  fact,  which  must  have  been  produced 
by  other  than  the  now  [visibly]  acting  causes. 

Furthermore,  he  speaks  of  "  the  absohite  necessity 
of  the  intervention  of  creative  power  to  form  or  to 
destroy  one  atom  even  of  dead  matter;  "  and  he  de- 
clares that  "  it  is  simply  preposterous  to  suppose 
that  we  shall  be  able  to  understand  scientifically  the 
sources  of  consciousness  and  volition,  not  to  speak 
of  higher  things." 

For  twenty-five  years  the  nihilistic  idealism  or 
nihilistic  materialism  of  Mill  deeply  and  widely  in- 
fected the  thinking  of  Oxford  and  the  higher  English 
culture  ;  and  the  transition  from  Mill  to  Spencer 
was  easy.     But  an  able  English  writer  has  said : 

*  "  Some  Recent  Advances  in  Physical  Science,"  pp.  349  and  22-24. 


Faith.  133 

Already  it  is  evident  that  tiicir  day  is  passed.  Now  the 
retribution  has  come.  The  fallacies  of  Mill's  logic,  the  false 
assumptions  which  underlie  his  skillful  exposition,  were  more 
or  less  e.xposed  by  various  writers,  including  Whewell  and 
McCosh.  A  little  later  the  University  of  London,  his  own 
university,  held  them  up  to  view.  Professor  Jevons,  long 
himself  a  disciple  of  Mill,  came  to  see  how  Mill's  nihilistic 
assumptions,  his  habit  of  ignoring-  or  explaining  away  phenom- 
ena, realities,  intuitions,  etc.,  have  vitiated  the  entire  fabric  of 
his  speculations,  and  made  large  sections  of  his  work  a  con- 
geries of  inconsistencies  and  incoherences. 

As  to  Herbert  Spencer,  his  teachings  are  being  sifted 
by  various  writers,  and  after  a  decisive  manner.  Pro- 
fessor Green,  of  Oxford,  examined  him  in  the  "  Contem- 
porary Review."  Mr.  Conder  and  Mr.  Brownlow  Maitland 
have  admirably  refuted  his  Agnosticism,  as  related  to  Chris- 
tian Theism. 

In  short,  on  all  sides,  the  forces  of  Christian  orthodoxy 
appear  to  be  rallying  and  turning  the  enemy  to  the  gate.  As 
a  hundred  years  ago,  so  now,  unbelief  will  be,  is  being, 
defeated  in  argument.  The  victories  of  Butler,  and  Paley, 
and  Berkeley  are  being  repeated.  There  is  a  tone  of  confi- 
dence in  the  Christian  camp,  as  there  was  not  twenty-five 
years  ago.  Our  champions  have  gone  out,  our  unknown 
Davids,  and  have  met,  and,  meeting,  have  overthrown  the 
giant  of  the  Philistines. 


It  may  be  safely  said  that  the  relations  of 
Christian  faith  to  philosophy  and  science  are  bet- 
ter settled,  and  more  satisfactory  than  formerly. 
Not  long  ago  infidelity  was  more  confident  in 
tone,  notwithstanding  all  her  utterances  in  recent 
years.  Twenty-five  years  ago  it  was  not  suspected 
that    Christianity    could    claim    so    much    support 


134      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

from  philosophy.  It  has  required  a  Httle  time  to 
mature  the  new  developments  of  modern  science  ; 
but  since  they  have  become  more  fully  understood, 
they  have  been  readily  adjusted  to  the  great  cycle 
of  truth,  where  God  is  the  center,  and  all  truth  is 
in  harmony  with  him.  We  are  learning  to  read  the 
old  faiths  in  the  light  of  modern  thought.  We  seem 
to  have  reached  the  third  of  three  *  great  epochs  in 
the  questions  between  science  and  the  Bible.  The 
first  was  the  period  of  violent  attacks  upon  the  Bible 
from  the  scientific  side,  and  of  violent  defense. 
This  was  followed  by  another  period,  of  ingenious 
attempts  to  reconcile  religion  and  science,  attended 
with  compromises  and  concessions  on  both  sides. 
The  third  period,  upon  which  we  have  now  entered, 
is  one  in  which  the  question  is  hardly  asked 
whether  religion  and  science  can  be  reconciled,  but 
rather,  How  are  we  to  use  the  help  of  both  in  a  ra- 
tional interpretation  of  the  universe  ? 

The  multiplication  of  theories  of  biblical  inspira- 
tion show  a  deepening  conviction  of  some  peculiar 
inspiration,  and  consequently  some  peculiar  value 
to  be  attached  to  the  Bible ;  and  the  recent  ex- 
tensive attempts  of  students  to  compare  it  with 
other  great  religious  books  is  a  substantial  con- 
cession to  its   high  character.     Professor  Bowen  f 

*See  "Old  Faiths  in  a  New  Light."  By  Newman  Smitli 
Charles  Scribner  &  Sons.     1879. 

I  Professor  Bowen's  "  Philosophical  Lectures,"  p.  456. 


Faith.  *  135 

quotes  Hartmann  as  saying,  "The  germs  of  all 
revealed  religion  are  to  be  found  in  the  heated 
fancies  of  the  mystics,  these  fancies  being  due  to 
inspiration  from  the  Unconscious;  "  and  then  adds, 
"  The  evidence  adduced  goes  far  enough  only 
to  confirm  a  text  of  Scripture,  which  he  uncon- 
sciously labors  to  establish,  that  '  The  prophecy 
came  not  in  old  time,  by  the  will  of  man  ;  but 
holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they  were  moved  by 
the  Holy  Ghost.'  " 

Some  of  the  specific  doctrines  of  revelation  have 
received  ample  confirmation  from  the  best  and 
strongest  developments  of  modern  thought. 
Kurtz  said,  Kant's  "  sharp  criticism  of  pure  reason, 
his  deep  knowledge  of  human  weakness  and  de- 
pravity, revealed  in  his  doctrine  of  the  radical  evil, 
his  categorical  imperative  of  the  moral  law,  were  all 
adapted  to  produce  in  profound  minds  a  despair  of 
themselves,  and  a  want  which  Christianity  alone 
could  fully  satisfy."  But  these  confirmations  are 
broader  than  mere  individual  opinions.  "  From  a 
new  quarter,  namely,  science  itself,  in  the  theory 
that  is  now  held,  and  is  likely  to  be  more  widely 
held,  of  the  origin  of  man,  the  doctrine  of  uni- 
versal sinfulness  is  assumed  and  believed,  not  as  a 
dogma,  but  as  a  conceded  universal  fact.  .  .  .  Un- 
expectedly, from  right  out  of  the  camp  of  science, 
comes  a  belief  in  the  doctrine  which  underlies 
the  whole  truth  of  religion — the  doctrine,  namely, 


136       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

of  the  universal  lost  condition  of  man."  *  The 
modern  doctrine  of  the  solidarity  of  the  race  cor- 
roborates this  fundamental  truth  of  the  Bible. 

As  to  the  recognition  of  the  divine  in  Christ, 
there  has  been  a  perceptible  advance  during  this 
century.  While  some  have  gone  down  to  purely 
humanitarian  views,  others  have  risen  to  higher 
conceptions.  Leaving  the  Arian  conception  al- 
most wholly,  as  a  thing  of  the  past  and  utterly  un- 
satisfying, they  have  advanced  to  the  Sabeliian  and 
the  Logos  theories,  and  some  to  the  orthodox  view. 
Renan  could  not  resist  the  inclination  to  call  Christ 
"  divine,"  to  speak  of  "  his  divinity  "  as  "  resplen- 
dent before  our  eyes,"  and  to  declare  that  "  he  is 
the  center  of  the  eternal  religion  of  humanity  ;  " 
while  Schelling,  after  years  of  ranging  between  the 
idealistic  and  the  realistic  systems,  near  the  close  of 
life,  declared  that  St.  Paul's  language,  (Rom.  xi,  36,) 
"For  of  him,  [Christ,]  and  through  him,  and  to 
him,  are  all  things ;  to  whom  be  glory  forever, 
Amen,"  "  is  the  foundation  and  last  word  of 
philosophy,  .  .  .  the  key-note  of  the  harmony 
between  revelation  and  philosophy."  Mr.  Beecher 
has  well  said :  "  Henceforth,  I  think,  in  the  en- 
deavor of  mankind  to  formulate  a  conception  of 
God,  no  thinker  and  no  theologian  will  ever  be  able 
to  frame  a  distinct  and  efficient  conception  of  the 

♦Sermon  on  "Christianity  Changing  yet   Unchanged,"  by  Rev. 
H.  W.  Beecher,  p.  33. 


Faith.  137 

divine  nature  without  using  the  materials  which 
were  developed  in  the  life  and  character  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ." 

Hon.  W.  E.  Gladstone,  M.P.  *  has  very  forcibly 
and  justly  said,  "  You  will  hear  much  to  the  effect 
that  the  divisions  among  Christians  render  it  impos- 
sible to  say  what  Christianity  is,  and  so  destroy  all 
certainty  as  to  what  is  the  true  religion.  But  if  the 
divisions  among  Christians  are  remarkable,  not  less 
so  is  their  unity  in  the  greatest  doctrines  that  they 
hold.  Well-nigh  fifteen  hundred  years  .  .  .  have 
passed  away,  since  the  great  controversies  concern- 
ing the  Deity  and  the  person  of  the  Redeemer  were, 
after  a  long  agony,  determined.  As  before  that 
time,  in  a  manner  less  defined,  but  adequate  for 
their  day,  so  ever  since  that  time,  amid  all  chance 
and  change,  more,  aye,  many  more,  than  ninety- 
nine  in  every  hundred  Christians  have  with  one 
voice  confessed  the  deity  and  incarnation  of  our 
Lord,  as  the  cardinal  and  central  truths  of  our  re- 
ligion. Surely  there  is  some  comfort  here,  some 
sense  of  brotherhood  ;  some  glory  due  to  the 
past,  some  hope  for  the  times  that  are  to  come." 

As  to  the  doctrine  of  immortality,  the  Church 
has  abated  nothing;  but,  in  addition  to  all  former 
proofs,  the  later  interpretation  of  Scripture,  and 
the  latest  revelations  of  physical  and  psychological 
science,  have  augmented  the  great  volume  of  testi- 
*  Address  at  the  Liverpool  College,  Dec,  1872,  pp.  27,  28. 


138      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

mony  in  its  favor.  The  greatest  names  in  modern 
philosophy,  Bacon,  Descartes,  Leibnitz,  Locke, 
Kant,  Hamilton,  and  even  Hartmann,  are  subscribed 
in  its  support.  Mr.  R.  W.  Emerson,  at  one  time  in 
grave  doubt  in  respect  to  personal  immortality,  has 
recently  expressed  himself  more  clearly  and  confi- 
dently in  its  favor. 

As  to  the  doctrine  of  accountability  to  God,  the 
multiplication  of  oaths  and  obligations,  and  their 
substitution,  in  modern  society,  in  the  place  of 
former  physical  methods  of  binding  men,  show  its 
increasing  recognition.  Kant's  "categorical  imper- 
ative of  the  moral  law  "  has  put  this  doctrine  on  an 
unshaken  philosophical  foundation  of  great  weight 
with  thinking  men,  and  modern  skepticism  has  vir- 
tually recognized  it  in  her  new  styles  of  speech — 
talking  of  duty,  obligation,  and  responsibility,  of 
"  the  sacred  obligation  of  truth,"  of  responsibility  for 
belief,  of  "  the  duty  "  of  professing  one's  belief,  and 
respecting  the  beliefs  of  others.  Polite  literature 
has  recently  come  to  abound  in  these  allusions — 
though  often  we  fear  that  they  contain  only  half- 
truths.  Such  ideas  were  unknown,  however,  to 
classical  antiquity,  and  to  the  skepticism  of  other 
days,  as  Isaac  Taylor  has  clearly  shown. 

As  to  the  doctrine  of  retribution,  there  have  been 
some  vacillations  and  transitions  ;  but,  on  the  whole, 
there  is  an  increasing  confidence.  From  1815  to 
1850  the  form  of  belief  held  by  Rev.  Hosea  Ballou, 


Faith.  ^  39 

and  others  of  his  class  who  departed  from  ortho- 
doxy,  was  that  all  suffering  on  account  of  sin  will  end 
with  the  close  of  this  life:  and  that,  at  death,  every 
person  will  enter  upon  a  state  of  holiness  and  hap- 
piness.      Since   1850  this  view  has  almost  wholly 
disappeared,  and  retribution  is  now  almost  univers- 
ally recognized  by  the  same  class  of  "  liberalists,"  as 
running  on  indefinitely  into  the  future  world.     In 
respect    to   the    endlessness    of  .retribution,    there 
has   been,  in  some  evangelical  circles,  a  weaken- 
ing of  confidence,  while  others  are  more    strongly 
fortified  than   ever.      Many  of  the  ripest  scholars 
in   the    "liberal"  bodies,   particularly    the    Unita- 
rian, have  conceded   that  "  by  no  just   interpreta- 
tion of  the   Scriptures   can  the   final    recovery  of 
all  souls  be  made  to  appear,"  although  they  still 
cherish  the   doctrine   on  philosophical  hypotheses. 
Others    in    those    bodies   have   gone   so   far  as  to 
declare  that  even  the  philosophical  hypothesis  of 
such  recovery  is  not  sustained  by  natural  theology 
nor  analogy,    and    is   opposed   by   the   weightiest 
names  in  the  realm  of  speculation.     On  the  latter 
point  Professor  F.  H.  Hedge,  D.D.,  has  cited  Plato 

and  Leibnitz.  * 

We  beheve  tiiat,  on  the  whole,  the  doctrine  of 
retribution  has  gained  ground  during  this  century 
in  the  number  of  its  advocates  and  the  force  of  its 

*  See  "Concessions  of  Liberalists  to  Orthodoxy,"  by  Rev.  D. 
Dorchester.  D.D.     Boston  :  D.  Lothrop  &  Co. 


I40       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

advocacy.  The  discourses  and  writings  of  Dr, 
Channing,  W.  G.  Eliot,  D.D.,  Orville  Dewey,  D.D., 
F.  H.  Hedge,  D.D.,  E.  H.  Sears,  D.D.,  Rev.  J.  C. 
Kimball,  W.  H.  Rider,  D.D.,  and  many  others,  freely 
attest  this  position.  The  debates  in  the  Univers- 
alist  ministers'  meetings  in  Boston,  in  Novembei 
and  December,  1877,  abounded  in  very  strong 
statements  of  the  law  of  retribution.* 

The  comparative  study  of  religions,  sometimes 
conducted  in  a  spirit  hostile  to  Christianity,  is  mak- 
ing the  absolute  superiority  of  Christianity  more 
manifest ;  and  the  religious  element  in  the  human 
soul  is  coming  to  be  more  definitely  accepted,  as 
not  an  accident,  but  an  essential  factor,  of  human- 
ity. It  is  making  it  apparent  that  the  soul  has  a 
Godward  side,  and  that  to  discredit  the  religious 
instinct  is  to  throw  doubt  on  all  the  powers  of  the 
soul,  and  involve  it  in  the  blankest  skepticism.  The 
Christian  conception  of  God  and  man  is  demonstrat- 
ing its  compatibility  with  a  perfect  religion  and  a 
perfect  life  ;  and  the  thorough  study  of  the  soul 
seems  likely  to  lead  to  the  acceptance  of  all  the 
leading  tenets  of  Christian  theology,  as  the  only 
adequate  foundation — "  the  union  of  all  antitheses, 
the  solution  of  all  problems,  and  the  reconciliation 
of  all  opposites." 

The  ethics  of  Christianity  were  never  so  widely 
accepted  in  the  current  literature,  the  common  be- 

*  See  numbers  of  "  The  Universalist  "  during  those  months. 


Faith.  141 

lief,  and  actual  life  of  the  race.  They  are  sifted  in- 
to  all  departments  of  knowledge.  New  Testament 
morals  are  universally  acceded  and  dominant,  not 
because  of  civil  or  ecclesiastical  authority,  but  from 
a  rational  conviction  of  their  essential  rightfulness. 
And  the  ethical  theory  that  man  has  a  religious  nat- 
ure, with  religious  needs,  a  conscious  dependence 
upon  the  Divine  Being,  and  a  necessity  for  worship 
— in  short,  that  in  the  constitution  of  man  there  is 
a  foundation  for  religion — is  now  indicated  by  the 
greatest  thinkers,  as  the  result  of  careful  scientific 
analysis.  David  Strauss,  after  years  of  wild  and 
destructive  criticism,  in  his  last  book  declared 
that  in  both  the  fields  of  positive  and  natural  the- 
ology there  exist  valid  grounds  for  the  deepest 
and  purest  piety,  which,  "  under  its  twofold  as- 
pect of  utter  dependence  and  utter  reliance,  con- 
stitutes the  inmost  core  of  all  the  manifestations  of 
religion." 

While  we  may  question  whether  such  an  answer 
can  be  given  from  his  stand-point,  we  neveitheless 
rejoice  to  see  so  sturdy  a  critic  acknowledge  a  sure 
ground  of  personal  piety  and  spiritual  consolation. 
It  was  the  ground  of  Schleiermacher,  in  his  great 
and  successful  contest  with  the  Materialists  and 
Pantheists,  and  on  which  we  hope  many  may  yet 
be  led  "into  all  truth." 

These  fundamental  indications  of  the  great  ethic- 
al ideas  of  Christianity  are  establishing  it  more  and 
10 


142      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

more  firmly  ;  and  no  skepticism,  no  change  of  institu- 
tions, no  revolution,  nothing  that  has  been  developed 
by  philosophy,  from  Descartes  to  Spencer  and  Hart- 
mann,  can  change  the  eternal  fact  inherent  in  men's 
nature,  of  the  necessity  of  utter  dependence  and  reli- 
ance upon  God  for  spiritual  repose  and  consolation. 

Thus  is  Christianity  being  continually  vindicated, 
on  some  new  basis,  according  to  the  changing  phases 
of  knowledge  and  opinion,  and  more  impregnably 
established  in  candid  minds. 

It  has  recently  been  said,  "  Germany  has  found  a 
new  theology  " — alias,  the  old  theology,  as  we  will 
soon  see.  The  Teutonic  expounder  is  Dr.  Albrecht 
Ritschl.  A  correspondent  of  the  "  London  Inde- 
pendent," two  years  ago,  writing  from  Marburg 
University,  said  ; 

The  most  important  feature  in  German  religious  life  at  the 
present  time  is  a  change  which  is  coming  over  theological 
teaching.  Of  late  years  theologians  in  Germany  have  been 
engaged  either  in  trying  to  explain  Christianity  on  rationalistic 
principles,  or  in  defending  doctrines  long  accepted  as  revealed 
truth.  The  former,  like  all  attempts  to  explain  a  higher  nature 
by  a  lower,  naturally  results  in  explaining  Christianity  away. 

It  was  reserved  for  Dr.  Albrecht  Ritschl,  late  Professor  in  Got- 
tingen  (1889),  to  find  a  new  basis  of  defense.  Ritschl  emphasized 
the  fact  that  in  Christian  theology  we  have  to  deal  with  the 
thoughts  of  a  new  creature,  the  Christian,  whose  faith  is  just  as 
inexplicable  bv  the  lower  standard  of  the  natural  man  as  the 
nature  of  the  latter  is  mexplicable  by  natural  law  alone.  Some 
new  fact  has  entered  with  Christianity  into  human  nature, 
which  must  be  taken  into  account.  This  fact  is  expressed  in  the 
word  Revelation.     The  speculative  German  mind,  tired  of  its 


Faith.  143 

wanderings,  finds  the  old  way  the  best,  and  shouts  again  the  old 
battle-cry  of  Revelation. 

The  circle  in  German  theology  is  once  more  com- 
pleted. What  seems  new  to  German  thinkers  was 
familiar  to  St.  Paul.  Nor  is  Dr.  Ritschl  without 
followers.     The  same  correspondent  says: 

At  the  present  time,  the  school  of  Ritschl  finds  one  of  its 
most  distinguished  representatives  in  Dr.  Wilhelm  Herrmann, 
Professor  of  Systematic  Theology  at  Marburg,  whose  lectures 
during  the  present  session  are  being  attended  by  upward  of 
ninety  students.  Dr.  Herrmann  is  a  man  whose  face  and  very 
voice  inspires  his  students  with  confidence  and  trust.  Without 
veiling  his  meaning  by  any  obscurity  of  language,  Dr.  Herrmann 
patiently  tries  to  place  the  grand  truths  of  Christianity  before 
his  hearers  in  such  a  way  that  they  may  appeal  to  reason  and 
to  heart  alike.  Old  forms  of  thought  are  shown  to  contain  the 
same  spirit  which  animates  every  Christian  heart,  and  the  words 
of  the  early  reformers  lose  their  apparent  harshness  when  the 
professor  explains  their  real  meaning.  To  all  Dr.  Herrmann's 
theological  teaching,  however,  there  is  one  great  presupposition, 
which  he  sums  up  in  the  word  "  Revelation  " — than  which  no 
word  occurs  with  more  persistent  frequency  in  Dr.  Herrmann's 
lectures. 

We  inquire,  in  what  sense  is  the  term  "  Revela- 
tion  "  used  here,  and  are  told  that  it  is  not  through 
"  some  system  of  philosophy,"  but  by  "  a  revelation 
by  God  himself  and  his  almighty  presence,"  that  we 
"  become  conscious  of  God."  How  fully  in  harmony 
with  St.  Paul,  who  declared  that  "  the  world  by 
wisdom  knew  not  God."  "The  knowledge  of  him- 
self which  God  gives  us  in  Revelation  is  not  an 
anticipation  of  the  results  of  science  or  philosophy, 


144      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

but  something  utterly  different  in  nature."  It  is  as- 
suring to  know  that  in  this  system  "  the  only  object 
of  faith  is  God  himself,  manifested  and  incarnated 
in  Jesus  Christ.  Certain  attributes  we  must  ascribe 
to  him,  certain  new  thoughts  about  his  creatures 
must  arise  in  our  minds,  and  our  new  activity  must 
take  certain  forms;  but  our  faith  is  rooted  and 
grounded  in  the  living  God," 

It  remains  to  be  seen  whether  these  views  will 
make  headway ;  but  it  is  a  great  improvement  over 
German  rationalism — and  in  its  essential  points  a 
palpable  confession  of  evangelical  Christianity  by 
those  who  have  long  stood  aloof  from  it. 

While  the  fundametital  elements  of  Christianity 
have  been  so  fully  attested  and  vindicated  by  the  best 
modern  thought,  and  even  by  candid  modern  skep- 
ticism, on  the  other  hand,  radical  unbelief  has  demon- 
strated its  poverty  and  power lessness  for  good. 

Some  of  the  more  courageous  skeptics  have  at- 
tempted to  push  their  theories  to  ultimate  practical 
results,  in  order  to  show  that  their  systems  are  capa- 
ble of  meeting  the  deeper  needs  of  humanity.  But 
their  efforts  have  only  led  to  constrained  or  implied 
confessions.  A  writer  in  the  "Westminster  Review," 
for  October,  1872,  set  for  himself  the  task  of  estimat- 
ing the  capacity  of  the  prevailing  materialistic 
philosophy  to  console  and  elevate  human  life.  Its 
incentives  and  comforts  to  cultivated  minds  were 


Faith.  145 

portrayed  with  feeble,  vanishing  touches;  the  neces- 
sities of  the  common  heart  of  humanity  were  over- 
looked, and  the  article  closed  with  seemingly 
conscious  revulsion  and  disgust.  On  any  purely 
materialistic  basis  life  loses  its  noblest  aims  and 
ideals,  self-sacrifice  its  significance  and  impulse,  and 
virtue  becomes  an  empty,  unreal  thing. 

None  more  than  the  materialists  believe  in  "  the 
order  of  things,"  but  they  shrink  from  carrying  their 
theories  to  the  lowest  terms.  Thus  reduced,  the  sys- 
tems of  Schopenhauer  and  Hartmann  would  eclipse 
the  universe.  Their  inevitable  sociological  bearings, 
so  deteriorating  and  destructive  in  practical  life,  have 
opened  many  minds  to  their  true  character.  Dr. 
Strauss,  as  we  have  noticed,  lived  long  enough  to  see 
the  unsatisfactory  character  of  his  form  of  unbelief, 
because  it  left  great  needs  of  the  soul  unmet,  and  to 
write  his  later  work,  "  Ein  Bekenntniss  "  (A  Con- 
fession). He  did  not  wholly  recant,  but,  rejecting 
the  theories  of  Schopenhauer  and  Hartmann  as  con- 
trary to  the  best  consciousness  of  the  race,  this 
great  critical  iconoclast  set  forth  the  valid  ground 
of  the  purest  and  deepest  piety — "  the  innermost 
core  of  all  the  true  manifestations  of  religion — utter 
dependence  and  utter  reliance  upon  the  Divine." 

Thoreau,  a  gifted  and  beautiful  writer,  an  ardent 
lover  and  worshiper  of  Nature,  in  one  of  his  pecul- 
iar moods,  complained  of  the  failure  of  his  panthe- 
istic worship  to  satisfy  the  deeper  needs  of  his  con- 


T46       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

sciousness,  and  expressed  the  sadness  of  his  inner 
Hfe  in  these  lines  : 

"  Amid  such  boundless  wealth  without, 

I  only  still  am  poor  within  ; 
The  birds  have  sung  their  summer  out, 

But  still  my  spring  does  not  begin." 

With  characteristic  frankness,  Mr.  O.  B.  Froth- 
ingham,  a  leader  in  '*  Free  Religious  "  doubt,  said 
of  the  system  he  had  championed,  "  The  new  faith 
cannot  compete  with  the  old  in  what  are  com- 
monly called  '  benevolent  enterprises.'  It  would 
not,  probably,  if  it  were  as  rich  and  capable  as  the 
old  faith  is.  Not  because  the  Radicals  are  stingy, 
as  has  been  over  and  again  asserted,  but  because 
they  cannot  accept  the  principle  on  which  these 
exercises  are  conducted,  and  no  other  principle  is  yet 
in  working  order.  No  original  work  is  yet  possible. 
.  .  .  The  new  methods  of  charity  —  reasonable, 
scientific,  practical  —  have  not  yet  been  devised. 
...  The  new  faith  will  exhibit  its  charity  when  it 
finds  an  object  which  makes  to  it  a  commanding 
appeal,"  * 

More  recently,  in  terminating  his  labors  in  New 
York    city,    Mr.    Frothingham     "  deliberately    an 
nounced  his  dissatisfaction  with  his  own  teachings, 
whether  in  himself  or  in  others."  f 

*A  Discourse  on  "The  Living  Faith,"  by  O.  B.  Frothingham 
New  York,  1871. 

\  "  New  York  Evening  Post,"  1879. 


Faith.  147 

Full  of  significance  are  also  these  lines  of  Mat- 
thew Arnold  : 

••  The  sea  of  faith 

Was  once,  too,  at  the  full,  and  round  earth's  shore 

Lay  like  the  folds  of  a  bright  girdle  furled. 

But  now  I  only  hear 

Its  melancholy,  long;  withdrawing  roar, 

Retreating  to  the  breath 

Of  the  night-wind  down  the  vast  edges  drear, 

And  naked  shingles  of  the  world. 

Ah,  love,  let  us  be  true 

To  one  another !  for  the  world,  which  seems 

To  lie  before  us  like  a  land  of  dreams. 

So  various,  so  beautiful,  so  new. 

Hath  really  neither  joy,  nor  love,  nor  light. 

Nor  certitude,  nor  peace,  nor  help  for  pain  ; 

And  we  are  here,  as  on  a  darkling  plain. 

Swept  with  confused  alarms  of  struggle  and  flight, 

Where  ignorance  armies  close  by  night." 

On  the  other  hand,  the  modifications  in  the  state- 
ment of  evangelical  theology,  we  have  iioticed,  have 
not  been  attended  with  a  decay  of  faith  or  a  decline 
of  power,  but  the  contrary. 

We  do  not  believe  there  has  been  any  alarming 
decay  of  real  faith,  but  that  faith  has  extended  her 
empire,  even  in  the  realm  of  the  highest  thought. 
Some  lights  have  indeed  been  flickering,  and  oth- 
ers have  gone  out  ;  but  vastly  more  lamps  are 
being  lighted  where  they  never  before  burned  than 
have  been  extinguished  where  they  have  been  burn- 
ing. To  change  the  figure,  the  apparent  loss  has 
been   only  a  process   of  sifting   more   closely  the 


148       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

wheat  from  the  chaff,  in  which  the  kernels  of 
rehgious  truth  have  become  cleaner  and  more 
precious. 

With  Mr.  Beecher,*  we  say,  "  I  do  not  believe 
that  theology  is  ever  going  to  pass  away.  I  be- 
lieve that  to  past  theologies  we  owe  a  world  of 
gratitude.  They  were  efficient  in  bringing  us  up 
to  the  times  that  have  gone  by,  and  they  were 
good  enough  for  the  periods  in  which  they  existed ; 
but  that  there  is  no  more  light  to  break  out  of  the 
word  of  God,  or  out  of  human  experience,  I  do  not 
believe.  .  .  If  we  are  losing  our  hold  upon  the  older 
systems,  or  a  part  of  them,  it  is  only  that  we  are 
preparing  the  way  to  build  larger,  deeper,  and  with 
more  authority  and  power." 

While  we  are  shedding  a  few  of  our  worn-out 
garments  of  technical  expression,  and  rehabilitating 
ourselves,  the  Christian  standards  are  advancing. 
Notwithstanding  the  gloomy  mutterings  of  modern 
pessimism,  faith  in  humanity,  in  God,  in  Christ's 
supreme  divinity,  and  in  the  doctrinal  and  ethical 
system  of  Christianity,  is  increasing.  Rightly  inter- 
preted, the  present  situation  means  that  "  Chris- 
tianity has  brought  the  world  up  to  the  point 
where  some  of  the  old  forms  and  dogmatic  termin- 
ology are  no  longer  adequate  to  embody  and  ex- 
press it."     Such   has  been  the  "  augmentation  of 

*  Sermon  in  Plymouth  Church,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  May  19,  1878, 
p.  19. 


Faith.  149 

individual  manhood,"  the  "elevation  of  social  rela- 
tionships," the  expansion  and  purification  of  philo- 
sophic thought,  and  the  enlargement  of  the  world's 
life. 

While  this  rehabilitating  process  has  been  going 
on  in  the  Protestant  Churches,  a  similar  process  has 
been  going  on,  not  only  in  medicine,  in  statesman- 
ship, and  political  economy,  in  education  and  gen- 
eral science,  but  also  in  the  realm  of  skepticism. 
Infidelity  has  changed  its  dress  and  form.  Even 
its  spirit  has  been  much  altered,  showing  the  modi- 
fying influence  of  Christianity.  The  defiant  temper 
of  the  Diderots  and  Paines  has  disappeared.  What 
naturalist  now  speculates  like  D'Holbach !  What 
historian  discourses  like  Volney !  And  what  meta- 
physician dogmatizes  like  Helvetius  !  Infidelity 
has  accommodated  itself  to  Christian  phraseology ; 
has  accepted,  in  the  form  of  half-truths,  fundament- 
als of  the  Christian  system,  and  has  become  more 
rational  and  religious  in  its  unbelief  than  a  hundred 
years  ago.  However  deceptive  its  attitude  in  these 
accommodated  forms,  the  fact  itself  is  a  concession 
to  the  substantial  truth  of  Christianity,  a  confession 
of  the  need  of  its  faiths.  Take  a  single  specimen. 
By  '*a  kind  of  an  intellectual  hypertrophy,  it  has 
developed  a  peculiar  pantheism — call  it  eclecticism, 
spiritualism,  free  religion,  or  what  not  —  which 
agrees  in  representing  all  things  "  as  chaos,  or  tem- 
porary forms  of  God,"  and  claims  that  all  religions 


I50       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

are  more  or  less  true — "  phenomena,  race  drifts,  or 
meteoric  clouds  " — shedding  luster  on  our  darkness, 
and  affording  gleams  of  light  and  hope.  "  Infidel- 
ity can  now  deny  a  personal  God,  and  at  the  same 
time,  as  by  a  double  consciousness,  breathe  out  the 
devotional  language  of  the  Bible,  in  "  spurious  re- 
ligiosity." It  adorns  itself  with  Christian  senti- 
ments, and  the  "words  which  belong  of  right  to 
faith  alone."  "  It  talks  of  prayer,  permeates  litera- 
ture with  a  self-conscious  devoutness,  breathes 
heavenly  aspirations,  wails  languidly  over  the  evils 
of  the  world,  talks  wonderfully  of  the  All-Father, 
and  even  sings  David's  Psalms."  * 

What  a  prodigious  power  is  this  in  Christianity, 
that  "  even  its  deadly  foes  and  traducers  borrow  its 
speech  and  trade  upon  its  capital.  This  borrow- 
ing and  wearing  in  public  view  the  insignia  of  the 
divine  kingdom  obscures  somewhat  the  distinction 
between  the  body  of  faith  and  the  body  of  unbelief, 
renders  Christianity  less  conspicuous  by  reason  of 
her  very  triumphs,  and  forsooth  perils  somewhat 
her  hold  upon  undiscriminating  minds."  But  it  is 
her  glory  that,  as  a  living  power,  she  has  so  wrought 
upon  her  great  enemy  as,  by  constraint,  to  change 
it  so  far  into  her  own  image.  A  conviction  of  the 
substantial  truth  in  Christianity  has  constrained  to 
this  result.  The  solid  central  beliefs  of  the  Churches 
have  compelled  these  things. 

*  "  The  Light  ;  Is  it  Waning  ?  "     Boston.    1879. 


Faith.  i  5 1 

Amid  all  the  changes  that  have  been  made,  the 
aggregate  of  skeptical  gain  has  been  nothing.  Not 
a  single  great  concession  has  been  made  by  Chris- 
tianity to  unbelief,  not  an  evidence  surrendered,  not 
one  sacred  book  has  been  given  up  ;  while  "  the  life 
of  Jesus  is  still  majestic  and  divine — the  insoluble 
enigma  to  the  cold  critic,  but  attractive  and  com- 
prehensible to  the  humble  believer." 

Looking  at  the  positive  side,  "  What  has  the 
Church  been  doing  ?  Has  the  apologist  made  no 
advance  ?  Is  the  map  of  Christendom  now  just 
what  it  was  when  the  old  independence  bell  broke 
with  its  first  glad  peal  of  liberty  to  both  the  hemi- 
spheres ?  We  would  not  boast,  but  we  must  be 
grateful.  God  has  been  in  the  storm,  and  made  it 
speed  the  ship  of  truth  as  in  no  equal  period  since 
the  first  Christian  Pentecost.  .  .  . 

"  The  first  great  reply  to  Strauss  was  Neander's 
'  Life  of  Christ.'  It  was  a  constructive  work,  and 
not  simply  negative — the  first  of  a  long  line  of  de- 
fensive writings  of  the  foremost  theologians  of  the 
century.  It  would  take  a  good  octavo  to  contain 
merely  the  titles  of  the  works  that  the  last  forty 
years  have  produced  in  favor  of  the  divine  founda- 
tions of  Christianity.  The  war  has  been  carried 
into  the  enemy's  camp,  and  the  leading  skeptical 
writers  are  more  busied,  just  now,  with  defending 
their  own  ground  than  with  advances  upon  the 
Church.  .  .  .  The  recent  apologetical  literature  of 


152       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

the  Church  is  able,  copious,  and  aggressive  beyond 
example.  There  is  no  question  that  the  most  vig- 
orous theologians  of  the  present  day  are  thoroughly 
orthodox,  in  whatever  country  we  look  for  examina- 
tion. Poor,  skeptical  Heidelberg,  rich  only  in  his- 
torical and  natural  associations,  has  lost  her  great 
number  of  theological  students,  because  she  has 
been  giving  them  nothing  but  *  husks,  that  the 
swine  did  eat ; '  while  evangelical  Leipsic,  Halle, 
and  Berlin  are  thronged  with  busy  seekers  of  '  the 
bread  of  life.'  .  .  . 

*'  The  recent  activity  in  missionary  labor,  in  evan- 
gelistic work  at  home,  in  providing  modest  places 
of  worship  for  the  threadbare,  despondent  multi- 
tude, in  humanitarian  open-handedness,  in  paternal 
love,  in  care  for  the  scriptural  knowledge  of  the 
young,  is  a  sure  indication  of  the  new  voyage  of 
evangelical  Christianity  from  its  old  traditional 
moorings,  out  upon  the  broad  sea  of  discovery  and 
possession.  The  great  forces  of  civilization  are  now 
Christian,  and  they  are  becoming  more  positively 
so  every  day."  * 

These  purifying  processes  through  which  it  is  pass- 
ing are  restoring  theology  to  the  original  type  of 
Christian  doctrine.  ■ 

It  is  one  of  the  clearest  and  most  hopeful  indica- 
tions of  the  times  that,  under  the  progress  of  phil- 
*  Rev.  J.  F.  Hurst,  D.D.,  in  the  "  Christian  Advocate." 


Faith.  153 

ological  study  and  biblical  interpretation,  the  true 
light  is  so  breaking  out  of  God's  word  ;  that  Chris- 
tian doctrines  are  outgrowing  many  of  the  old  de- 
cayed formularies,  casting  off  unwarranted  append- 
ages, assuming  less  dialectical  and  more  simple 
forms,  and  that,  under  all  these  processes,  the  core 
of  each  remains,  not  only  undecayed,  but  more  vig- 
orous and  vital  than  ever — the  best  vindication  of 
eternal  truth.  Church  creeds,  too,  are  shortening, 
are  confined  to  root  principles  of  the  great  doctrines, 
and  stated  in  simpler  forms.  This  is  also  a  growing 
characteristic  of  modern  doctrinal  preaching  and  of 
the  theological  writings  of  our  times.  Simplicity 
and  directness  in  the  statement  of  religious  truth — 
New  Testament  statements — are  likely  to  command 
liberal  premiums  in  the  coming  ages. 

Truth  is  simple.  The  maturest  thought  embodies 
itself  in  the  simplest  forms  ;  and  the  broadest  anal- 
ysis and  most  rigid  synthesis  fail  of  their  ends  un- 
less they  arrive  at  simple  propositions.  Systems  of 
truth  are  well,  if  not  hewn  to  suit  the  caprice  of  the 
builder.  Dialectical  knowledge  may  serve  useful 
purposes,  especially  in  detecting  sophistry  and  sub- 
tleties ;  but  dialectical  arts  savor  of  guile,  and  true 
men,  loving  truth  and  seeking  only  truth,  have  no 
use  for  them  except  for  defensive  warfare.  Sim- 
plicity and  directness  characterized  the  inculcations 
of  the  great  Teacher  and  his  apostles.  Apostolic 
Christianity  was  content   with    simple   styles    and 


154      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

forms,  discarding  the  subtleties  and  elaborate  meth- 
ods of  the  schools. 

Primitive  Christianity  was  long  without  an  elab- 
orate authoritative  creed.  The  so-called  Apostles' 
Creed  is  supposed  to  have  had  its  origin  subsequent 
to  the  time  of  the  apostles,  taking  form  by  slow  ac- 
cretions, and  coming  into  its  present  shape  in  the 
third  century.  And  yet  this  was  the  period  of  the 
greatest  purity  and  power  of  the  Church,  when  least 
shackled  by  dogmatic  forms.  Thus  did  the  true 
philosophy  and  the  ever-faithful  friend  of  philoso- 
phy start  upon  their  missions.  But,  in  the  course 
of  time,  both  lost  their  simplicity  and  purity,  and 
fell  into  a  long  and  grievous  bondage,  from  which 
they  are  now  emerging. 

Such  is  the  emancipation  which  has  been  going 
on  in  Protestant  theology,  and  the  progressive  re- 
covery of  the  ideal  of  Christian  truth,  first  shadowed 
forth  in  the  apostolic  Church,  but  long  lost  under 
the  rubbish  of  Popery. 

In  a  brilliant  discourse  Rev.  Phillips  Brooks  very 
appropriately  said  :  "  I  believe  that  religion,  so  far 
from  being  on  its  death-bed,  is  just  ready  to  enter 
on  a  completer  life  than  it  has  ever  before  had  ;  and 
I  believe  that  it  must  come  by  the  results  of  relig- 
ious inquiry,  of  which  so  many  men  are  afraid,  as 
we  have  learned  so  much  about  religion,  knowledge 
has  grown  so  wonderfully  within  our  own  short  age. 
Now,  to  many  men  it  seems  that  that  growth  of 


Fatth.  155 

knowledge  has  undermined  the  foundations  of  re- 
ligious faith  ;  out  of  that  knowledge  must  come 
the  grounds  of  a  purer  faith.  It  must  come  (it  is 
come)  just  as  fast  as  knowledge  brings  us  into  con- 
tact with  the  truth.  What  I  believe  we  have  a 
right  to  look  for  as  religious  men  is  a  great  religious 
revival  which  shall  not  be  a  despairing  retreat  upon 
worn-out  rituals,  which  once  had  life  in  them  ;  not 
a  great  excitement  of  feeling ;  but  a  devout  search 
after  truth  for  the  cause  which  gives  to  every  truth 
its  meaning,  and  the  triumphant  acceptance  of  Him 
as  the  glorious  Lord,  the  example  of  our  life,  which 
shall  be  as  much  more  thorough  and  devout  and 
religious  as  it  is  intelligent  over  the  best  faith  of 
ages  that  have  gone  before  us." 

In  Rome  the  traveler  is  assured,  that  however 
violent  the  changes  of  temperature  without,  the 
deep  interior  of  St.  Peter's  preserves  its  uniform 
medium.  So  is  it  with  the  spiritual  life  of  the 
Church.  Unmoved  by  changes  of  outward  condi- 
tion, and  slight  variations  in  forms  and  terminology, 
and  feeding  upon  the  covenants  and  promises,  it 
realizes  a  more  profound  entrance  into  that  interior 
heart  of  doctrine  in  which  unity,  simplicity,  and 
power  dwell. 

What,  then,  have  been  the  effect  of  these  modifi- 
cations of  doctrinal  statements  upon  the  moral  in- 
fluence, the  spiritual  vitality,  and  the  growth  of 
Protestantism  ?     Have  they  been  diminished  or  in- 


156      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

creased  ?  The  answer  given  in  subsequent  chapters 
is  full  of  encouragement. 

The  period  of  intellectual  progress  and  activity 
in  which  these  doctrinal  modifications  have  been 
made  has  also  been  the  period  of  the  greatest  spir- 
itual activity.  It  has  also  been  eminently  charac- 
terized by  practical  beneficence,  philanthropy,  and 
the  wide  extension  of  Christian  influence.  Piety 
has  become  more  intelligent,  beautiful,  and  attract- 
ive, the  sure  foundation  of  a  truer  humanity  and  a 
more  rational  happiness. 

Every  year  brings  new  attestations  of  the  sub- 
stantial truth  of  the  fundamental  principles  of 
Christianity  by  leaders  in  the  department  of  scien- 
tific and  philosophic  thought.  Within  two  or  three 
years  Huxley  and  Spencer  have  confessed  that  the 
gross  materialistic  theory  of  evolution  was  unable 
to  account  for  the  origin  of  conscience  and  the 
ability  to  make  ethical  distinctions.  At  recent 
public  meetings  at  Amherst  College  and  in  Boston 
President  G.  Stanley  Hall,  of  Clark  University,  im- 
pressively showed  the  aid  that  biology  and  the  new 
psychology  are  giving  to  the  exposition  of  the  old 
doctrines  of  sin,  redemption,  and  immortality;  and, 
not  long  ago,  an  argument  was  presented  by  Dr. 
Charles  P.  Bancroft,  Superintendent  of  the  New 
Hampshire  State  Asylum  for  the  Insane,  based  on 
facts  ascertained  by  study  and  experience,  in  sup- 
port of  what  he  termed  "  St.  Paul's  profound  pathol- 


Faith.  157 

ogy:  "  "The  wages  of  sin  is  death,  but  the  gift  of 
God  is  eternal  life." 

Many  men  of  science  believe  in  practical  piety. 
A  correspondent  of  the  "  New  York  Observer," 
attending  a  recent  meeting  (1894)  of  the  American 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  at 
Minneapolis,  thus  relates  what  he  witnessed: 

I  was  surprised  to  hear,  among  the  announcements  made 
Saturday,  the  notice  of  a  prayer  meeting  to  be  Iield  on  Sunday 
afternoon  ;  and,  what  was  a  greater  surprise,  on  attending  that 
service,  to  find  the  leader  of  the  meeting  the  newly  elected 
president  of  the  association,  and  the  first  volunteer  to  take 
part  the  retiring  officer  of  the  previous  year.  The  foremost 
astronomer  in  the  State  led  in  prayer.  There  are  no  more  dis- 
tinguished geologists,  botanists,  or  biologists  in  America  than 
those  gathered  thus  to  commune  in  the  name  of  Christ.  There 
are  no  names  in  the  schools  of  America  more  honored  than 
those  to  be  found  upon  the  roll  of  her  Christian  churches. 

At  a  special  service,  in  Plymouth  Church,  Brook- 
lyn, N.  Y.,  (August,  1894,)  for  the  members  of  the 
American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science,  Dr.  Rossiter  Raymond,  in  an  address  on 
Science  and  Religion,  said  : 

The  scientific  attitude  before  the  mysterious,  all-pervading 
Energy  is  one  of  reverent  awe.  But  the  attitude  of  religion  is 
not  that.  "  Son  of  man,  stand  upon  thy  feet,  and  I  will  speak 
with  thee ;  behold,  I  raise  thee,  who  couldst  not  otherwise 
stand.  I  need  thee  ;  I  send  thee  ;  I  go  with  thee  !  "  That  is 
the  added  content  of  religion.  Science  may  be  defined,  God 
in  his  world  ;  religion,  God  in  us.  Science  takes  us  to  wonder 
and  awe ;  religion,  to  communion  and  service. 
11 


158      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

In  the  afternoon  a  prayer  meeting  was  held,  by 
the  members,  in  the  Brooklyn  Polytechnic  Institute, 
at  which  the  speakers  were  eminent  professors  of 
natural  science  in  American  colleges. 

At  a  recent  anniversary  of  the  Massachusetts 
Bible  Society,  of  which  he  has  long  been  president, 
that  eminent  scholar  and  statesman,  Hon.  Robert 
C.  Winthrop,  LL.D.,  uttered  some  memorable 
words : 

The  bravest  and  most  hopeful  among  us  are,  I  know,  some- 
times disposed  to  despondency,  and  ahnost  to  despair,  as  they 
witness  such  floods  of  lawlessness  and  infidelity  swelling  and 
sweeping  over  our  own  and  other  lands,  and  dashing  down  so 
many  of  the  old  landmarks  of  morality  and  religion.  But  we 
may  all  take  comfort  and  courage  in  thinking  of  the  great  and 
glorious  things  which  the  Bible  has  already  done  for  mankind 
since  the  opening  of  the  Christian  era,  and  which  can  never  be 
lost. 

And  even  science,  after  all  the  marvelous  discoveries  it  has 
of  late  accomplished,  and  all  the  signal  triumphs  it  is  daily 
achieving,  now  soaring  to  the  skies,  questioning  each  particular 
star  and  comet  and  remotest  nebula,  and  analyzing  the  ver}'  tints 
and  texture  of  the  sun  itself ;  now  sounding  the  depths  of  the  sea 
and  spreading  out  its  countless  contents,  animate  and  inani- 
mate, to  be  the  subject  of  an  exposition  for  princes  to  inaugu- 
rate and  the  world  to  admire  ;  now  exploring  and  searching  the 
caves  and  caverns  of  the  earth  and  laying  bare  to  our  insatiate 
gaze  the  long  buried  treasure  of  Ilion  or  Assos,  or  the  hardly 
less  interesting  outcomes  of  mounds  and  shell  heaps  in  our 
own  land ;  and  now  suspended  in  mid  air,  over  the  broad 
current  which  had  so  long  separated  the  two  great  sister  cities 
of  our  continent,  that  stupendous  bridge  over  which  travel  and 
traffic  may  pass  and  repass  unimpeded  from  hour  to  hour,  and 


Faith.  159 

look  down  upon  the  tall  ships  sailing  freely  beneath  them ; 
even  science,  I  say,  in  all  the  just  pride  of  these  and  a  hundred 
other  successes,  has  never  found,  and  never  can  find,  any  other 
fixed  and  steadfast  point  of  departure,  or  any  other  sure  and 
final  resting  place  to  fall  back  upon,  save  in  that  sublime 
announcement  in  the  first  verse  of  the  Bible  :  "  In  the  begin- 
ning God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth." 

It  was  my  privilege,  in  London,  to  represent  our  American 
Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences  at  the  public  funeral  of  one 
who  has  been  held  as  the  greatest  philosopher  and  naturalist 
of  our  day  and  generation.  It  was  solemnized  at  Westminster 
Abbey,  and  his  remains  were  laid  at  the  side  of  those  of  Sir 
John  Herschel  and  Sir  Isaac  Newton.  The  highest  peers  of 
the  realm  were  among  the  pall-bearers,  and  all  who  were  most 
distinguished  in  Church  and  State,  in  art  and  literature,  in 
science  and  theology,  were  gathered  around  his  grave.  The 
burial  service  of  the  English  Liturgy  was  read  or  chanted, 
and,  as  a  part  of  it,  the  wonderful  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Corinthians,  in  which  the  great  apostle,  as  with  a  pencil  of 
electric  fire,  draws  that  glowing  distinction  and  contrast  which 
no  material  science  can  overlook  or  confound,  and  which 
shines  and  sparkles  on  the  pages  of  Holy  Writ  like  the  Milky 
Way  in  the  heavens  above  us  :  "  There  are  celestial  bodies,  and 
bodies  terrestrial ;  but  the  glory  of  the  celestial  is  one,  and  the 
glory  of  the  terrestrial  is  another.  There  is  a  natural  body, 
and  there  is  a  spiritual  body.  And  as  we  have  borne  the 
image  of  the  earthy,  we  shall  also  bear  the  image  of  the  heav- 
enly." Never  before,  it  seemed  to  me,  had  those  old  familiar 
texts  sounded  so  new,  so  full  of  meaning,  so  convincing,  so 
sublime,  as  when  read  in  presence  of  all  that  was  mortal  of 
one  whose  masterly  researches  and  deductions  and  theories — ■ 
however  modestly,  conscientiously,  and  reverently  conducted 
and  pursued,  as  we  owe  it  to  him  to  remember  that  they 
always  were — had  probably  done  more  to  disturb  the  faith  of 
the  Christian  world  than  any  utterances  since  that  glorious 
epistle  was  written  by  St.  Paul. 

And  certainly,  my  friends,  that  solemn  tribute  to  the  genius 


i6o      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

and  virtues  of  Darwin,  by  the  highest  authorities  of  the  English 
Church,  as  well  as  of  the  English  nation,  was  a  most  memor- 
able attestation,  from  which  we  trust  there  may  be  no  appeal, 
that  no  discoveries  of  modern  science,  and  no  theory  or  doc- 
trines of  evolution,  even  if  universally  accepted  and  adopted, 
are  ever  to  be  counted  incompatible  with  a  firm  and  unwavering 
belief  in  one  God,  as  the  Creator  of  heaven  and  earth,  and  in 
one  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  brought  life  and  immortality  to 
light  through  the  Gospel. 


II.    MORALS. 


CHAPTER  I. 
TYPICAL  PERIODS. 

PERIOD  I. — Europe,  Anterior  to  the  Lutheran  Reformation 
"        II. — England,  Anterior  to  the  Wesleyan   Reforma- 
tion. 
"       )II  — The  United  States,  from  1700  to  1800. 


II.-MORALS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

TYPICAL     PERIODS. 

A  writer  in  the  "  Fortnightly  Review  "  *  said : 

The  services  rendered  by  the  mediaeval  Church  in  this 
country  to  the  cause  of  enhghtenment  and  learning  have  been 
much  exaggerated.  As  Mr.  Hallam  has  said,  the  learning  was 
of  a  bad  and  false  sort ;  and  no  real  enlightenment  could  pos- 
sibly come  out  of  the  arid  discussions  and  distressing  puerili- 
ties which  constituted  the  only  orthodox  mental  exercises  per- 
mitted by  the  Church.  The  increasing  demand  for  cathedrals, 
abbeys,  hospitals,  and  churches  raised  to  rapid  eminence  an 
order  of  architects  among  the  most  original,  daring,  and  suc- 
cessful that  has  ever  flourished.  These  cultivators  of  one  of 
the  noblest,  most  difficult,  and  most  useful  of  all  the  arts  and 
sciences  which  advance  and  adorn  a  country,  will  always  be 
counted  among  the  greatest  benefactors  of  western  Europe. 
By  the  simple  and  enduring  force  of  beauty  and  fitness  the 
principal  edifices  raised  by  the  mediaeval  architects,  whether 
clerics  or  laymen,  have  become  models  of  their  kind  for  all 
subsequent  ages. 

These  are  the  principal  considerations  which  can  be  urged 
in  favor  of  the  mediseval  Church.  I  do  not  discuss  its  theology 
or  its  traditions.  But  the  considerations  of  an  opposite  and 
evil  nature  far  outweigh  the  good. 

There  has  been  a  disposition  among  writers  and  philosophers 
who  have  discussed  the  nature  of  the  various  influences  exerted 
by  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  Europe  and  this  country 

*  June,  i88o. 


164      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

during  the  Middle  Ages,  to  concede  that,  notwithstanding  fla- 
grant abuses  and  tyrannies  and  defects,  the  beneficial  influences 
predominated.  The  Church,  during  the  earlier  centuries  of  its 
ascendency  under  the  Popes,  did,  without  doubt,  preserve  from 
the  danger  of  total  destruction  whatever  was  left  of  literature, 
learning,  and  the  arts ;  and  by  means  of  religious  offices  and 
rites  kept  alive  the  ideas  of  morality  in  the  midst  of  a  barbarism 
of  the  most  savage  character.  But  about  the  eleventh  century 
a  process  of  deterioration  set  in,  which,  with  checks  and  inter- 
vals of  amendment  in  various  countries  and  at  different  epochs, 
steadily  advanced  from  one  abuse  to  another  still  more  gross, 
till,  after  a  downward  career  of  five  hundred  years,  human 
nature  could  bear  the  tyranny  and  the  wickedness  no  longer, 
and  found  relief  in  the  Reformation. 

Period  I. —  TJie  Period  antedating  the  Reforma- 
tion tinder  LiitJier. 

This  was  a  long,  dark  epoch,  too  hideous  in  corrup- 
tion, brutality,  and  evil  portents  to  be  easily  exagger- 
ated. Not  the  least  noticeable  was  the  immorality  of 
the  clergy — "  a  hissing  and  a  reproach."  "  If,"  said  an 
Italian  bishop,  "  I  were  to  enforce  the  canons  against 
unchaste  persons  administering  ecclesiastical  rites, 
there  would  be  no  one  left  in  the  church  but  the  boys ; 
and  if  I  enforced  the  canons  against  bastards,  they 
also  must  be  excluded."  The  priests  either  married, 
although  such  unions  were  illegal,  or  maintained  con- 
cubinage openly.  Historians  agree  that  the  conduct 
of  the  monks  and  the  clergy  could  hardly  be  worse 
than  it  was,  and  that  the  evil  virus  permeated  society. 

In  an  age  like  this,  a  new  prerogative,  for  which  the 
way  had  been  preparing,  still  further  augmented  the 


Morals.  165 

already  vast  influence  of  the  clergy.  "  Every  individ- 
ual pastor,  in  the  tribunal  of  penitence,  was  made  the 
absolute  inquisitor,  judge,  and  dictator  of  every  soul, 
male  and  female,  belonging  to  his  flock."  "  The  de- 
cision of  a  single  priest  was  pronounced  final  for  the 
forgiveness  of  sins,  and  his  solitary  voice,  uttered  in 
secret,  was  pronounced  as  the  voice  of  Christ  him- 
self, dispensing  the  prerogatives  of  the  Most  High."* 

Out  of  the  practical  workings  of  the  confessional 
arose  schools  of  casuistry ;  and  a  decline  in  theoret- 
ical and  practical  ethics  extended  through  the  whole 
range  of  morals.  "  According  to  the  Fathers  of  the 
Church  and  the  rigid  casuists  in  general,  a  lie  was 
never  to  be  uttered,  a  promise  never  to  be  broken. 
The  precepts  of  revelation,  notwithstanding  their 
brevity  and  litenilness,  were  held  complete  and  literal. 
.  .  .  But  there  had  not  been  wanting  those  who, 
whatever  course  they  might  pursue  in  the  confes- 
sional, found  the  convenience  of  an  accommodating 
morality  in  the  secular  affairs  of  the  Church.  Oaths 
were  broken,  and  engagements  were  entered  into 
without  faith,  for  the  ends  of  the  clergy,  or  for  those 
whom  they  favored  in  the  struggles  of  the  world. "f 

Ingenious  sophistries  were  resorted  to  for  defend- 
ing breaches  of  plain  morality. 

*  "  History  of  the  Confessional."  By  Bishop  Hopkins.  Harper 
Brothers.     1850.     P.  192. 

f  Hallam's  "Literature  of  the  Middle  Ages."  Harper  Brothers. 
Vol.  ii,  p.  121. 


i66      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Another  source  of  demoralization  grew  out  itf  the 
necessities  occasioned  by  the  immense  extravagan- 
cies of  the  Papal  Court,  inspiring  an  avaricious  in- 
genuity in  the  invention  of  new  methods  of  extor- 
tion. Among  these  schemes,  we  find  a  system  of 
indulgences — liberty  to  buy  off  the  punishment  of 
sin  by  pecuniary  offerings — not  fully  invented  at 
once,  but  gradually  developed,  and,  at  last,  elabor- 
ately drawn  out  and  "  shaped  by  chancery  rules," 
under  which  absolution  from  sin  was  made  a  mat- 
ter of  traffic.  Scarcely  a  sin  could  be  imagined  but 
had  its  price. 

"  The  doctrine  and  sale  of  indulgences  were  pow- 
erful incentives  to  evil  among  an  ignorant  people. 
True,  according  to  the  Church,  indulgences  could 
only  benefit  those  who  promised  to  amend  their  lives, 
and  who  kept  their  word.  But  what  could  be  ex- 
pected from  a  tenet  invented  solely  with  a  view  to 
the  profit  that  might  be  derived  from  it?  The 
venders  of  indulgences  were  naturally  tempted,  for 
the  better  sale  of  their  merchandise,  to  present 
their  wares  to  the  people  in  the  most  attractive 
aspect.  .  .  .  All  that  the  multitude  saw  in  them 
was,  that  they  permitted  men  to  sin;  and  the  mer- 
chants were  not  over  eager  to  dissipate  an  evil  so 
favorable  to  their  sale. 

"  What  disorders  and  crimes  were  committed  in 
these  dark  ages  when  impunity  was  to  be  purchased 
by  money?     What  had  man  to  fear,  when  a  small 


Morals.  167 

contribution  toward  building  a  church  secured  him 
from  punishment  in  the  world  to  come?"* 

The  priests  were  the  first  to  yield  to  these  cor- 
rupting influences.  "  The  history  of  the  age  swarms 
with  scandals;"  and  we  would  not  cite  them,  but 
to  exhibit  the  sad  condition  into  which  the  Church 
had  lapsed,  and  from  which  it  emerged  under 
Protestantism. 

The  fifteenth  century  opened  amid  turbulence, 
crime,  lawlessness,  and  impurity.  Profligacy  and 
corruption  pervaded  the  hierarchy,  and  the  sacred 
offices  of  the  Church  were  bartered  and  sold.  Priest- 
ly avarice  and  arrogance  wore  an  unblushing  front, 
and  deeds  of  darkness  were  performed  by  the  high- 
est dignitaries,  and  shamelessly  avowed.  The  bene- 
fices were  the  carcasses  around  which  the  eagles 
gathered ;  and  the  question  upon  which  ecclesias- 
tical promotion  turned  was  not,  ''Are  you  a  fit 
man?"  but,  "Have  you  money?"  "Scullions, 
pimps,  hostlers,  and  even  children,"  became  Church 
dignitaries.  The  signature  of  the  Pope  had  its 
price,  and  men  ignorant,  scandalous  for  vice,  ambi- 
tious, cruel,  and  every  way  unfit,  were  promoted  to 
bishoprics.  An  Englishman's  recipe  for  the  stom- 
ach of  St.  Peter  and  its  complete  reformation, 
quaintly  given  in  the  Council  of  Constance,  was. 
"  Take  twenty-four  cardinals,  a  hundred  archbishops 

*  Merle  D'Aubign^'s  "  History  of  the  Reformation  under  Luther." 
American  Tract  Society's  Edition,  vol.  i,  p.  6i. 


1 68      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

and  prelates,  an  equal  number  from  each  nation,  and 
as  many  creatures  of  the  court  as  you  can  secure ; 
plunge  them  into  the  Rhine,  and  let  them  remain 
for  the  space  of  three  days.  This  will  be  effective 
for  St.  Peter's  stomach,  and  will  remove  its  entire 
corruption."  "  No  Protestant  doctor  could  have 
prescribed  a  harsher  remedy." 

At  the  Council  of  Constance  (;I4I4-I4i7)  evi- 
dence was  given,  which  no  R.oman  Catholic  can 
dispute,  that  the  state  of  priestly  morals  was  as 
low  as  the  range  of  human  nature  could  reach. 
The  schism  in  the  Church,  and  its  two  Popes — at 
Rome  and  Avignon — furnished  occasion  for  severe 
utterances  and  plain  dealing.  The  Bishop  of  Lodi, 
who  had  urged  the  Council  to  severity  against 
Huss,  in  a  funeral  sermon  of  a  Cardinal  before  the 
Council,  rebuked  the  clergy  as  "  so  plunged  in  ex- 
cess of  luxury  and  brutal  indulgence,  that  Diog- 
enes, seeking  a  man  among  them,  would  only  find 
beasts  and  swine."* 

The  well-known  feelings  of  the  Emperor  in  re- 
gard to  the  prevailing  corruption,  and  the  schis- 
matic condition  of  the  Church,  secured  freedom  of 
speech,  and  the  public  discourses  were  the  safety- 
valve  through  which  the  pent-up  feelings  of  many 
found  relief.  One  preacher  declared  that  "  almost 
the  entire  clergy  were  under  the  dominion  of  the 
devil."t  "In  the  world  falsehood  is  king;  among 
*  L'Enfant,  339.  f  Ibid.,  494. 


Morals.  169 

the  clergy  avarice  is  law.  In  the  prelates  are  found 
only  malice,  iniquity,  negligence,  ignorance,  vanity, 
pride,  avarice,  simony,  lust,  pomp,  hypocrisy.  At 
the  court  of  the  Pope  there  is  no  holiness.  It  is  a 
diabolical  court."  Another  said  :  "  The  clergy- 
spend  their  money  on  buffoons,  dancing  girls,  dogs, 
and  birds,  rather  than  in  charity  to  the  poor. 
They  frequent  taverns  and  brothels,  and  go  from 
their  concubines  and  prostitutes  to  mass  without 
any  scruple.  It  has  passed  into  a  proverb,  that  the 
priests  have  as  many  mistresses  as  domestics." 
The  convents  were  not  spared.  "  It  is  a  shame." 
he  says,  "  to  speak  of  what  is  done  in  them  ;  more 
a  shame  to  do  it.  In  all  these  abominations  the 
Court  of  Rome  sets  the  example,  even  in  the  place 
where  it  is  assembled  for  the  reformation  of  man- 
ners." 

In  the  one  hundred  years  between  Huss  and 
Luther  some  changes  took  place  for  the  better  in 
the  civil  and  social  condition  of  Europe.  The 
labors  of  Wycliffe,  Huss,  etc.,  and  the  revival  of 
learning,  were  exerting  a  beneficent  influence.  An 
invisible  lever  was  lifting  the  century  ;  the  charm 
of  lofty  ecclesiastical  claims  was  breaking ;  men's 
minds  were  disturbed  on  many  subjects  ;  the  old 
unreasoning  submission  to  authority  was  shaking 
off  its  deep  slumber  and  awakening  into  inquirj.-. 
But  these  were  only  the  first  feeble  motions  of  the 
mighty    giant,    starting    up    with    fierce    revenge 


I/O      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

against  "  the  ecclesiastical  terrorism  which  for 
centuries  had  sequestered  the  rights  of  mind." 
Men  were  weary  of  the  establishments  of  former 
ages ;  feudalism  declined,  royal  power  consoli- 
dated, and  all  Europe  was  ripening  for  a  change 
in  the  relations  of  Church  and  State.  Social  life 
lost  something  of  its  coarseness  and  brutality. 
The  invention  of  printing  and  the  great  maritime 
discoveries  in  the  last  half  of  the  century  quickened 
thought  and  gave  an  impulse  to  learning,  but  there 
was  little  moral  improvement. 

"  Almost  within  hearing  of  the  first  motion  of 
the  press  incalculable  numbers  of  enthusiasts  re- 
vived the  exploded  sect  of  the  Flagellants  of  for- 
mer centuries,  and  perambulated  Europe,  plying 
the  whip  upon  their  naked  backs,  and  declaring 
that  the  whole  of  religion  consisted  in  the  use  of 
the  scourge.  Others,  more  crazy  still,  pronounced 
the  use  of  clothes  to  be  evidence  of  an  unconverted 
nature,  and  returned  to  the  nakedness  of  our  first 
parents,  as  proof  of  their  restoration  to  a  state  of 
innocence.  Mortality  lost  all  its  terrors  in  this 
earnest  search  for  something  more  than  the  ordi- 
nary ministrations  of  the  faith  could  bestow,  and 
in  France  and  England  the  hideous  spectacles 
called  the  Dance  of  Death  were  frequent.  .  .  .  Peo- 
ple danced  the  Dance  of  Death  because  life  had 
lost  its  charm.  Life  had  lost  its  security  in  the 
two  most  powerful  nations  of  the  time.     England 


Morals.  171 

was  shaken  witn  contending  factions,  and  France 
exhausted  and  hopeless  of  restoration.  ...  A  car- 
dinal, bloated  and  bloody,  dominated  both  London 
and  Paris,  and  sent  his  commands  from  the  palace 
at  Winchester,  which  were  obeyed  by  both  na- 
tions." * 

At  the  opening  of  the  sixteenth  century  Alexan- 
der VI.,  (1492-1513,)  "the  most  depraved  and 
wicked  of  mankind,"  sat  in  the  chair  of  St.  Peter. 
No  earthly  ruler  since  the  Roman  Nero  had 
equaled  him  in  profligacy,  and  in  the  coarser  vices 
of  cruelty  and  oppression.  Through  his  whole  life- 
time he  was  notoriously  dissolute.  In  earlier  life 
criminally  connected  with  a  Roman  lady  in  Spain, 
he  also  seduced  her  daughters,  and  adopted  one  of 
them  as  his  life-long  mistress,  having  by  her  five 
children.  Later,  while  occupying  high  ecclesias- 
tical positions  in  Rome,  he  installed  her  in  a  house- 
near  St.  Peter's,  and  shielded  his  amours  under 
her  pretended  marriage  to  an  intendant.  Devoting 
himself  to  public  duties  and  acts  of  piety  by  day 
and  to  lust  by  night,  this  infamous  man  easily,  in 
an  age  of  gross  corruption,  beguiled  the  Roman 
people.  By  heavy  bribes  procuring  his  elevation 
to  the  Papal  chair,  by  outraging  time-honored 
rights  elevating  his  bastard  sons  over  the  old 
princely  houses  of  Italy,  he  became  at  last  a  victim 

*"The  Eighteen  Centuries,"  by  Rev.  James  White.  Page  374. 
D.  Appleton  &  Co.     i860. 


1/2      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

of  his  own  wickedness.  After  reveling  in  debauch- 
ery, venality,  and  blood,  he  was  poisoned  by  the 
very  dose  with  which  he  had  connived  to  poison 
another.  Julius  II.,  a  man  of  ferocious  spirit,  and 
Leo  X.,  a  patron  of  art,  and  of  a  polished  licen- 
tiousness, followed  in  the  Papal  chair.  Such  was 
the  head  of  the  Church  on  the  eve  of  the  Refor- 
mation. 

The  condition  of  the  clergy  and  the  people  of 
Europe  was  little  different.  The  depravity  of  the 
Church  followed  its  ramification  every-where.  The 
priests  were  proverbially  ignorant,  brutal,  and 
drunken.  The  obligations  of  celibacy  were  un- 
scrupulously eluded,  and  the  disorders  of  the  mon- 
asteries and  convents  were  appalling,  "  In  many 
places  the  people  were  delighted  at  seeing  a  priest 
keep  a  mistress,  that  the  married  women  might  be 
safe  from  his  seductions."  "  In  many  places  the 
priests  paid  the  bishop  a  regular  tax  for  the  woman 
with  whom  he  lived,  and  for  each  child  he  had  by 
her.  A  German  bishop  said  publicly  one  day,  at  a 
great  entertainment,  that  in  one  year  eleven  thou- 
sand priests  had  presented  themselves  for  that  pur- 
pose. It  is  Erasmus  who  relates  this."  *  How 
gross  was  the  age  which  could  tolerate  such 
things  I 

The  period  of  the  Reformation  was  a  vast  crisis, 

*  Merle  D'Aubigne's  "  History  of  the  Reformation  under  Lu- 
ther."    American  Tract  Society's  edition,  vol.  i,  pp.  62,  63. 


Morals.  173 

a  ground-swell,  heaving  society  from  its  bottom 
depths,  and  stirring  up  much  that  was  of  evil  re- 
port. Great  tempests  swept  over  Europe.  There 
were  extreme  movements  and  reactions,  involving 
much  to  be  deprecated.  In  the  midst  of  such 
heavy  throes,  and  out  of  such  a  low  condition,  the 
new  life  of  Protestantism  emerged,  taking  into  it 
much  of  the  moral  imperfection  of  the  age.  Ban- 
croft has  said,  "  A  man  can  as  little  move  without 
the  weight  of  the  superincumbent  atmosphere  as 
escape  altogether  the  opinions  of  the  age  in  which 
he  sees  the  light."  With  the  Reformation  there 
was  destruction,  and  with  the  advance  recession.  It 
was  no  small  task  for  the  Reformation  to  raise  it- 
self out  of  a  slough  so  foul  and  so  universal,  and 
maintain  at  once  a  clean  front,  a  clear  head,  and  a 
secure  footing.  It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that 
we  find  Luther  and  his  followers,  while  reacting 
against  the  papal  doctrine  of  works,  in  their  advo- 
cacy of  faith  as  the  only  ground  of  justification, 
"  running  perilously  near  the  abyss  of  Antinomian- 
ism,"  if  they  did  not  even  topple  into  it,  as  seems 
evident  from  some  of  Luther's  utterances  recently 
quoted  by  Sir  William  Hamilton,  S.  Baring  Gould, 
and  Rev.  Dr.  F.  C.  Ewer.  The  legitimate  fruit  of 
this  extreme  was  dissolute  manners.  For  a  time, 
with  advanced  purity,  there  was  much  impurity,  and 
with  wisdom,  folly  and  madness.     Hence  we  find 

Luther  saying  that  "  for  one  devil  of  Popery  ex- 
12 


174      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

pelled,  seven  worse  devils  entered  "  into  some  of 
his  followers.  Bucer  said  that  some,  "  in  their  re- 
volt from  the  tyranny  of  the  Pope  and  the  Bishops," 
"  gave  themselves  up  freely  to  their  caprices  and 
all  their  carnal  passions." 

The  Reformation  did  not  at  once  produce  a  com- 
plete improvement  in  manners.  Rev.  Dr.  Ewer,  in 
his  recent  effort  to  prove  the  failure  of  Protestant- 
ism,* cites  the  capital  convictions  of  Nuremburg 
in  three  centuries,  as  evidence  that  morals  declined 
after  the  Reformation  under  Luther  began.  He 
says,  "  There  were  condemned  to  death,  in  Nu- 
remburg, for  incest,  highway  robbery,  murder,  in- 
fanticide, unnatural  crimes,  etc.,  in  the  fifteenth 
century,  before  the  Reformation,  41  ;  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  after  the  Reformation,  190 ;  in 
the  seventeenth  century,  after  the  Reformation, 
270."  But  what  do  these  statistics  prove  save 
an  increased  attention  to  the  promotion  of  moral 
order  by  the  enforcement  of  law?  Before  the 
Reformation,  under  the  unchallenged  dominion  of 
the  Papacy,  crime  was  committed  with  such  im- 
punity that  it  could  hardly  be  called  crime.  Even 
indulgences  to  murder  were  granted  by  the  Church 
for  sums  ranging  from  twenty  dollars  to  fifty 
dollars.  The  increase  in  the  number  of  convic- 
tions, then,  is  evidence  of  progress  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  laws,  either  long  in  disuse  or 
*  "  The  Complete  Preacher,"  July,  1878,  p.  224. 


Morals.  175 

newly  enacted,  and  the  elevation  of  the  standard 
of  order. 

And  now,  after  three  hundred  years  have  passed, 
who  can  fail  to  see  a  great  improvement  in  morals, 
and  also  a  marvelous  difference  between  those 
countries  which  have  remained  Roman  Catholic 
and  those  which  have  been  Protestant  ?  Who  can 
fail  to  observe  the  rapid  advancement  of  Protestant 
over  Papal  nations  in  useful  arts,  commerce,  litera- 
ture, education,  civil  rights,  social  privileges,  moral 
sense,  and  political  influence  ?  Trying  the  case  by 
any  reasonable  standard  of  existing  facts,  it  will  be 
obvious  that  the  system  which  lives  by  indulgences 
and  the  confessional  does  not  advance  and  elevate 
nations,  but  depresses,  degrades,  and  impoverishes 
them. 

Progress  has  been  made  amid  conflicts,  by  vary- 
ing stages,  through  ebbs  and  flows,  eddies,  rapids, 
and  even  stagnant  lagoons.  Advance  movements 
in  society  are  seldom  by  straight  lines  or  in  uniform 
rates,  free  from  retarding  frictions  ;  but  rather  un- 
even, irregular,  sometimes  oscillatory,  with  frequent 
recessions  and  reactions.  Keeping  these  things  in 
mind,  let  us  pass  over  the  intervening  period,  and 
pause  amid  the  scenes  which  preceded  the  Wesleyan 
Reformation  in  England. 


iy6      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Period  II, — England  from  1660  to  1750. 

The  English  Reformation  had  passed  ;  Protest- 
antism had  triumphed  and  securely  intrenched  it- 
self; Puritanism,  and  other  forms  of  dissent,  as 
sub-protests,  championing  a  still  purer  faith  and 
life,  arose  and  exerted  their  influence. 

The  rigid  regimen  of  Cromwell  was  followed  by  a 
terrible  rebound.  The  great  soldier  and  his  Puritan 
supporters  came  to  be  regarded  as  "  lank-haired 
gentlemen,"  with  "  sour-faced  hypocrisies,"  "  speak- 
ing through  the  nose,"  "  debarring  from  social 
meetings,  from  merry-making  at  Christmas,  and 
junketing  at  fairs,"  and  "  forswearing  all  innocent 
enjoyments."  After  "  years  of  weary  restraint  and 
formalism,"  on  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.,  the 
accumulated  tide  burst  all  barriers.  "A  flood  of 
dancing  and  revelry  and  utter  abandonment  to  hap- 
piness burst  over  the  whole  country.  .  .  .  Never, 
since  the  old  times  of  the  Feasts  of  Fools  and  the 
gaudy  procession  of  the  Carnival,  had  there  been 
such  a  riotous  jubilee  as  inaugurated  the  Restora- 
tion. The  reaction  against  Puritanism  carried  the 
nation  almost  beyond  Christianity,  and  landed  it  in 
heathenism  again."  * 

Through  nearly  one  hundred  years  this  reaction 
extended.  The  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century 
tvas  the  darkest  period,  morally,  since  the  birth  of 

*  White's  "  Eighteen  Christian  Centuries,"  p.  472. 


Morals.  177 

English  Protestantism  ;  and  yet,  with  all  its  terri- 
ble gloom,  it  was  many  degrees  brighter  than  either 
England  or  the  Continent  two  centuries  before. 
Scrutinizing  the  picture,  we  shall  be  able  to  appre- 
ciate the  struggling  stages  through  which  the  bet- 
ter life  of  the  race  has  passed  in  reaching  its  present 
condition. 

In  the  higher  classes  of  English  society,  the  taint 
left  by  Charles  II.  and  his  licentious  court  still  fes- 
tered ;  and  in  the  lower,  laziness  and  dishonesty 
were  universal.  Extravagance  was  the  order  of  the 
day,  and  "  scarcely  a  family  kept  within  its  income." 
In  1723  Lady  Mary  Montagu  wrote,  "  Honor,  vir- 
tue, and  reputation,  which  we  used  to  hear  of  in 
the  nursery,  are  as  much  laid  aside  as  crumpled 
ribbons."  The  masses  entertained  themselves  with 
brutal  amusements,  instigating  bloody  quarrels,  and 
engendering  savage  dispositions.  "  The  essayists, 
in  their  matchless  prose ;  Pope,  in  verse  no  less 
terse  and  vigorous ;  and  Hogarth,  on  canvas,  at- 
tacked, with  all  the  weapons  of  satire  and  ridicule, 
the  vicious  tendencies,  which  struck  them  chiefly  as 
instances  of  folly  and  bad  taste."  *  But  art  and 
culture  failed  to  regenerate  society ;  and  the  spirit 
nourished  by  these  savage  sports  found  vent  in 
tumults,  uproars,  manslaughters,  etc.,  which  more 
recent  records  of  crime  fail  to  parallel.  The  pic- 
ture is  a  dark  one. 

*  Julia  Wedgewood. 


178      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Lecky  says:*  "The  impunity  with  which  out- 
rages were  committed  in  the  ill-lit  and  ill-guarded 
streets  of  London  during  the  first  half  of  the  eight- 
eentli  century  can  now  hardly  be  realized.  In 
1712  a  club  of  young  men  of  the  higher  classes, 
who  assumed  the  name  of  Mohawks,  were  accus- 
tomed nightly  to  rally  out  drunk  into  the  streets  to 
hunt  the  passers-by,  and  to  subject  them,  in  mere 
wantonness,  to  the  most  atrocious  outrages.  One 
of  their  favorite  amusements,  called  *  tipping  the 
lion,*  was  to  squeeze  the  nose  of  their  victim  flat 
upon  his  face,  and  to  bore  out  his  eyes  with  their 
fingers.  Among  them  were  the  '  sweaters,'  who 
formed  a  circle  around  their  prisoner,  and  pricked 
him  with  their  swords  till  he  sank  exhausted  on  the 
ground  ;  the  '  dancing  masters,'  so  called  from  their 
•  skill  in  making  men  caper  by  thrusting  swords  into 
their  legs ;  the  '  tumblers,'  whose  favorite  amuse- 
ment was  to  set  women  on  their  heads,  and  commit 
various  indecencies  and  barbarities  on  the  limbs 
that  were  exposed.  Maid-servants,  as  they  opened 
their  masters'  doors,  were  waylaid,  beaten,  and  their 
faces  cut.  Matrons,  inclosed  in  barrels,  were  rolled 
down  the  steep  and  stony  incline  of  Snow  Hill, 
Watchmen  were  unmercifully  beaten  and  their  noses 
slit.  Country  gentlemen  went  to  the  theater,  as  if 
in  a  time  of  war,  accompanied  by  their  armed  re- 
tainers.    A  bishop's  son  was  said  to  be  one  of  the 

*  "  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,"  vol.  i.  p.  522,  etc. 


Morals.  179 

gang,  and  a  baronet  was  among  those  who  were 
arrested." 

Said  the  Bishop  of  Lichfield,  in  1724:  "The 
Lord's  day  is  become  the  devil's  market  day.  .  .  . 
Sin,  in  general,  is  grown  so  hardened  and  rampant 
as  that  immoralities  are  defended,  yea,  justified,  on 
principle."  Smollett  said,  in  1730,  "Thieves  and 
robbers  are  now  become  more  desperate  and  savage 
than  they  had  ever  appeared  since  mankind  were 
civilized."  "  All  men  agree,"  thus  begins  the  "  Pro- 
posal for  a  National  Reformation  of  Manners,"  in 
1734,  "  that  atheism  and  profaneness  never  got  such 
a  high  ascendant  as  at  this  day.  A  thick  gloomi- 
ness hath  overspread  the  horizon,  and  our  light 
looks  like  the  evening  of  the  world."  The  mayor 
and  aldermen  of  London,  in  1744,  drew  up  an  ad- 
dress to  the  king,  in  which  they  stated  that  "  Divers 
confederacies  of  great  numbers  of  evil-disposed  per- 
sons armed  with  bludgeons,  pistols,  cutlasses,  and 
other  dangerous  weapons,  infest  not  only  the  pri- 
vate lanes  and  passages,  but  likewise  the  public 
streets  and  places  of  usual  concourse,  and  commit 
most  daring  outrages." 

Tyerman,  after  portraying  the  usual  condition  of 
London,  says  of  this  period,  "The  country  was  an 
apt  imitator  of  the  vices  of  the  town,"  and  that 
"the  dark  picture  might  easily  be  enlarged,  not 
from  posterior  writings,  or  even  from  the  religious 
publications   of  the  period,   but    from    periodicals. 


i8o      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

magazines,  and  newspapers,  which  had  no  tempta- 
tion to  represent  the  customs,  manners,  usages,  and 
vices  of  the  age  in  a  worse  aspect  than  was  war- 
ranted by  facts." 

A  fearful  passion  for  gambling  reached  its  climax 
under  the  first  two  Georges.  Swift  says.  Lord 
Oxford  denounced  it  as  "  the  bane  of  the  English 
nobility."  The  Duke  of  Devonshire  and  Lord 
Chesterfield  were  bewitched  by  it.  It  "  reigned 
supreme  "  "  at  Bath,  the  center  of  English  fashion  ;" 
and  the  passion  was  quite  as  strong  among  fashion- 
able ladies  as  among  fashionable  gentlemen. 

And  yet  gambling  was  only  one  of  many  mam- 
moth evils  of  that  time.  We  will  not  pause  to  speak 
of  the  "Fleet  marriages" — the  strangest  scandals 
of  English  life.  But  drunkenness  was  one  of  the 
distinguishing  vices,  the  consumption  of  distilled 
spirits  increasing  from  2,000,000  gallons  in  1684,  to 
11,000,000,  in  1750,  besides  the  milder  drinks.  Phy- 
sicians declared  gin-drinking  was  a  new  and  terrible 
source  of  mortality,  of  murders,  and  robbery.  "  The 
evil  acquired  such  fearful  dimensions,"  says  Lecky, 
"  that  even  the  unreforming  Parliament  of  Walpole 
perceived  the  necessity  of  taking  strong  measures 
to  arrest  it."  No  efforts,  however,  availed  for  some 
years.  Violent  riots  followed  the  first  attempts, 
and  the  evil  still  increased.  Crime  and  immorality 
of  every  description  became  more  terrible.  "  The 
London  physicians,"  says  Lecky,  "stated,  in   1750, 


Morals.  i8i 

that  there  were  in  and  about  the  metropolis  no  less 
than  14,000  cases  of  illness,  most  of  them  beyond 
the  reach  of  medicines,  directly  attributable  to  gin." 
Fielding  said  that  "  gin  was  the  princii)al  sustenance 
of  100,000  people  in  the  metropolis,"  and  he  pre 
dieted  that  "  should  the  drinking  of  this  poison  be 
continued  at  its  present  height,  during  the  next 
twenty  years,  there  will,  by  that  time,  be  very  few 
of  the  common  people  left  to  drink  it."  Bishop 
Benson,  in  a  letter  written  from  London  a  little 
later,  said :  "  There  is  not  only  no  safety  in  living  in 
this  town,  but  scarcely  any  in  the  country  now, 
robbery  and  murder  are  grown  so  frequent.  Our 
people  are  now  becoming,  what  they  never  before 
were,  cruel  and  inhuman.  Those  accursed  spiritu- 
ous liquors,  which,  to  the  shame  of  our  government, 
are  so  easily  to  be  had,  and  in  such  quantities  drank, 
have  changed  the  very  nature  of  our  people ;  and, 
they  will,  if  continued  to  be  drank,  destroy  the  very 
race  of  people  themselves." 

The  political  corruption  in  England  in  the  first 
half  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  one  of  the  most 
serious  blemishes  of  that  age.  Capitalists  and  cor- 
porations descended  into  the  political  arena,  and 
carried  measures  by  sheer  corruption.  Lavish  sums 
were  spent  by  the  East  India  Company  among 
members  of  Parliament,  and  in  the  elections  cor- 
ruption was  universal.  Brokers  stock-jobbed  elec- 
tions on  the   Exchange.     One  writer  said,  "  Bor- 


1 82       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

oughs  are  rated  in  the  Royal  Exchange  like  stocks 
or  tallies  ;  the  price  of  a  vote  is  as  well  known 
as  of  an  acre  of  land,  and  it  is  no  secret  who 
are  the  moneyed  men,  and  generally  the  best  cus- 
tomers. '  * 

Lecky  said :  "  He  [Walpole]  governed  by  an 
assembly  which  was  saturated  with  corruption  ; 
and  he  fully  acquiesced  in  its  conditions,  and  re- 
sisted every  attempt  to  improve  it.  He  appears 
to  have  cordially  accepted  the  maxim  that  govern- 
ment must  be  carried  on  by  corruption  or  by  force, 
and  he  deliberately  made  the  former  the  basis  of 
his  rule.  He  bribed  George  II.  by  obtaining  for 
him  a  civil  list  exceeding  by  more  than  ;^  100,000  a 
year  that  of  his  father.  He  bribed  the  queen  by 
securing  for  her  a  jointure  of  ^100,000  a  year, 
when  his  rival,  Sir  Spencer  Compton,  could  only 
venture  to  promise  ;^6o,ooo.  He  bribed  the  dis- 
senting ministers  to  silence  by  the  regium.  donunt, 
for  the  benefit  of  their  widows.  He  employed  the 
vast  patronage  of  the  Crown  uniformly  and  stead- 
ily with  the  single  view  of  sustaining  his  position  ; 
and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  a  large  propor- 
tion of  the  immense  expenditure  of  secret-service 
money  during  his  administration  was  devoted  to 
the  direct  purchase  of  members  of  Parliament."  f 

*  Somers'  "  Tracts,"  vol.  xiii,  quoted  by  Lecky. 
f  Lecky's  "  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,"  vol.  i,  pp.  395, 
)96,  etc. 


Morals.  183 

But  Mr.  Lecky  says  that  "  Bribery,  whether  in 
the  elections  or  in  Parliament,  was  no  new  thing  " 
under  Walpole.  He  quotes  from  Davenant  and 
De  Foe  to  show  its  prevalence  at  the  close  of  the 
seventeenth  and  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth 
centuries  ;  that  men  made  it  their  business  to  buy 
and  sell  seats  in  Parliament  ;  that  the  market 
price  was  one  thousand  guineas  ;  that  "  bribery, 
buying  of  votes,  freedoms,  and  freeholds "  were 
"  open  and  barefaced ;"  and  that  in  1716  the  Earl 
of  Dorset  said,  "A  great  number  of  persons  have 
no  other  livelihood  than  of  being  employed  in 
bribing." 

He  further  says,  that  if  corruption  did  not  begin 
with  Walpole  it  did  not  end  with  him.  His  ex- 
penditure of  secret-service  money  did  not  equal 
that  of  Bute,  and  "  it  is  to  Bute,  and  not  to  Wal- 
pole, that  we  owe  the  most  gigantic  and  wasteful 
of  all  forms  of  bribery.  In  1754  Sir  John  Bar- 
nard, with  a  view  to  the  approaching  elections, 
actually  moved  the  repeal  of  the  oath  against  brib- 
ery, in  the  interest  of  public  morals,  on  the  ground 
that  it  was  merely  the  occasion  of  general  perjury. 
.  .  .  Very  few  statesmen  of  the  eighteenth  century 
had  less  natural  tendency  to  corruption  than 
George  Grenville.  His  private  character  was  un- 
impeachable. .  .  .  The  expenditure  of  secret-service 
money  during  his  administration  was  unusually 
low,  yet,  such  was  the  condition  of  the  legislature 


i84      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

by  which  he  governed,  that  he  appears  to  have 
found  it  necessary  to  offer  direct  money  bribes  to 
members  of  the  House  of  Lords.  If  Walpole  was 
guilty  of  corruption,  it  may  be  fairly  urged  that  it 
was  scarcely  possible  to  manage  Parliament  with- 
out it."*  He  also  saysf  that  "supporters  of  the 
government  in  Parliament  frequently  received,  at 
the  close  of  the  session,  from  ;^50o  to  ^i,ooo  for 
their  services  ;"  and  that  "  it  is  certain  that  the 
consentient  opinion  of  contemporaries  accused  the 
ministers  of  gross  and  wholesale  corruption." 

An  English  gentleman,:]:  before  the  Unitarian 
Conference,  at  Saratoga,  September,  1878,  speak- 
ing of  the  political  corruption  in  England,  said  : 
"  There  had  been  no  political  parties  in  England 
until  the  time  of  William  of  Orange,  and  then 
things  began  to  grow  corrupt,  and  reached  their 
height  in  the  times  of  Walpole,  when  they  were 
more  corrupt  than  in  our  own  day." 

Fashionable  life  and  sentiment  were  coarse  and 
foul.  The  writings  of  De  Foe,  Swift,  Fielding,  and 
Smollett  fully  illustrate  this,  and  the  two  Georges 
did  not  improve  the  condition.  According  to  Lord 
Hervey  and  others,  "  each  king  lived  publicly  with 
mistresses,  and  the  immorality  of  their  courts  was 
accompanied  by  none  of  that  refinement  and  grace 
which  has  often   cast  a  softening  veil  over  evil." 

*  "  Lecky,"  i,  pp.  398,  399.  f  Ibid.,  p.  403. 

J  Dorman  B.  Eaton,  Esq. 


Morals.  185 

peaking  of  the  queen  of  George  II.,  Lecky  says : 
"  Living  herself  a  life  of  unsullied  virtue,  discharg- 
ing, under  circumstances  of  peculiar  difficulty,  the 
duties  of  a  wife  with  most  exemplary  patience  and 
diligence,  exercising  her  great  influence  in  Church 
and  in  State  with  singular  wisdom,  patriotism,  and 
benevolence,  she  passed  through  life  jesting  on  the 
vices  of  her  husband  and  of  his  ministers  with  the 
coarseness  of  a  trooper,  receiving  from  her  husband 
the  earliest  and  fullest  account  of  every  new  love 
affair  in  which  he  was  engaged,  and  prepared  to 
welcome  each  new  mistress,  provided  only  she 
could  herself  keep  the  first  place  in  his  judgment 
and  in  his  confidence." 

On  her  death-bed,  says  Lord  Hervey,  "  Caroline 
advised  the  king  to  marry  again.  Upon  which  his 
sobs  began  to  rise  and  his  tears  to  fall  with  double 
vehemence.  While  in  the  midst  of  this  passion, 
wiping  his  eyes,  and  sobbing  between  every  word, 
with  much  ado,  he  got  out  this  answer :  '  No,  I 
shall  have  these  mistresses.'  To  which  the  queen 
made  no  other  reply  than,  'O,  my  God,  that  will 
make  no  difference  ! '  " 

Doubtless  there  were  "  party  libels  "  of  the  time, 
imputing  great  iniquities  to  objects  of  personal 
dislike  ;  and  discrimination  should  be  made  between 
the  "  place-hunters  "  at  St.  James'  and  other  per- 
formers in  the  greater  scenes  of  life  and  the  great 
body  of  English   and  Scotch  gentry.      The  latter 


1 86      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

should  not  be  involved  in  the  condemnation  of  the 
former.  Many  examples  of  morality  and  religion, 
of  pure  and  noble  champions  of  truth  remained  ; 
but  the  more  active  currents  of  society  were  thor- 
oughly tainted. 

A  writer  in  "  Blackwood's  Magazine,"  about  ten 
years  ago,  said  : 

"  Walpole  served  his  country  and  the  devil  to- 
gether, and  laughed  at  the  very  idea  of  goodness. 
Chesterfield,  in  devotion  to  one  of  the  most  blessed 
of  natural  pieties,  did  not  blush  to  encourage  his 
young  son  in  shameless  wickedness.  Pope  babbled 
loudly  of  the  vice  for  which  his  weak  frame  inca- 
pacitated him.  ...  It  was  the  age  when  delicate 
young  women  of  the  best  blood  and  best  manners 
in  the  land  talked  with  a  coarseness  which  editors 
of  the  nineteenth  century  can  represent  only  by 
asterisks ;  and  in  which  the  most  polished  and 
dainty  verse.  Pope's  most  melodious,  correctest 
coupletSj  were  interspersed  with  lines  which  would 
damn  for  ever  and  ever  any  modern  poetaster.  Per- 
sonal satire — poor  instrument  of  vengeance,  which 
stings  without  wounding — had  such  sway  as  it  never 
had  before  in  England ;  but  that  sense  of  public 
honoi  which  prevents  open  outrage  upon  decency 
was  not  in  existence.  The  public  liked  the  wicked 
story,  and  liked  the  scourge  that  came  after,  and 
laughed,  not  in  its  sleeve,  but  loudly,  at  blasphemy 
and  indecency  and  profanity.     Even  the  sentiment 


Morals.  187 

of  cleanness,  purity,  and  honor  was  lost  to  the  gen- 
eration." 

Turning  to  the  Churches,  we  find  no  ameliora- 
tion of  the  dark  picture,  for  those  who  should  have 
been  reformers  needed  themselves  to  be  reformed. 
The  dissenting  Churches,  which  felt  themselves  to 
be  the  bulwarks  of  truth  and  morals,  lamented  that 
many  of  their  own  ministers  were  immoral,  negli- 
gent, and  inefficient,  while  their  communicants  par- 
took largely  of  the  prevailing  corruption.  Of  many 
of  the  clergy  of  the  Established  Church  what  shall 
we  say  ?  One  familiar  with  the  facts  shall  bear  tes- 
timony. 

"  The  foulest  sins  were  made  sinless  by  intem- 
perate zeal  for  the  Pretender,  and  the  fairest  virtues 
besmeared  in  those  who  showed  a  friendly  feeling 
for  Dissenters.  A  man  might  be  drunken  and  quar- 
relsome all  the  week,  but  if  on  Sunday  he  bowed  at 
the  altar  and  cutsed  King  William  he  was  esteemed 
a  saint.  He  might  cheat  every  body  and  pay  no- 
body, but  if  he  drank  health  to  the  royal  orphan, 
hated  King  George,  and  abhorred  the  Whigs,  his 
want  of  probity  was  a  peccadillo  scarcely  worth  no- 
ticing. On  the  other  hand,  a  man  might  be  learned, 
diligent,  devout,  and  useful,  but  if  he  opposed  the 
Pretender  and  Popery,  or  if  he  thought  the  Dis- 
senters should  not  be  damned,  he  was  at  once  set 
down  as  heterodox,  and,  according  to  his  impor- 
tance, became  a  target  for  the  shafts  of  High-Church 


1 88      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

malice.  .  .  .  The  court  of  England  was  corrupt  to 
its  very  core,  and  the  people  were  too  faithful  imi- 
tators of  the  bad  example.  Popery  was  intriguing, 
Dissenters  were  declining,  and  the  Church  was  full 
of  fiery  and  drunken  feuds."  * 

Another  English  writer  f  says  :  "  In  a  great  many 
instances  the  clergy  were  negligent  and  immoral ; 
often  grossly  so.  The  populace  of  the  large  towns 
were  ignorant  and  profligate  ;  and  the  inhabitants 
of  the  villages  added  to  ignorance  and  profligacy 
brutish  and  barbarous  manners.  A  more  striking 
instance  of  the  rapid  deterioration  of  religious  light 
and  influence  in  a  country  scarcely  occurs  than  in 
our  own,  from  the  Restoration  to  the  rise  of  Meth- 
odism. It  affected  not  only  the  Church,  but  the 
dissenting  sects  in  no  ordinary  degree." 

Such  is  the  dark  picture  of  English  morals  two 
hundred  years  after  the  birth  of  Protestantism. 
Even  in  its  worst  aspects  it  is  many  degrees  brighter 
than  the  moral  condition  of  either  England  or  the 
Continent  when  the  Lutheran  Reformation  com- 
menced, for  some  new  alleviating  lights  irradiate 
the  page.  But  a  comparison  of  the  lights  and 
shadows  of  the  present  with  those  of  England  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  will  show  stupendous 
progress. 

In  the  midst  of  such  a  state  of  morals  the  great 

*  Tyerman's  "  Life  of  Wesley,"  vol,  i,  p.  65. 
f  Rev.  Richard  Watson. 


Morals.  189 

religious  revival  under  the  Wesleys  and  Whitefield 
had  its  origin,  spreading  out  into  a  broad  evangel- 
ical movement  among  Churchmen  and  Dissenters, 
permeating  the  British  Isles  with  elements  of  new 
life,  and  elevating  the  moral  tone  of  society.  While 
Luther  gave  special  prominence  to  the  doctrine  of 
justification  by  faith,  Wesleyanism  laid  its  emphasis 
upon  holiness  of  heart  and  life,  and  thus  became 
not  only  a  revival,  but  also  a  reformation  in  morals. 
The  story  shall  be  told  by  one  who  will  not  be  sus- 
pected of  partiality. 

Mr.  Lecky  says  :  "  From  about  the  middle  of 
the  eighteenth  century  a  reforming  spirit  was  once 
more  abroad,  and  a  steady  movement  of  moral  as- 
cent may  be  detected.  The  influence  of  Pitt  in 
politics,  and  the  influence  of  Wesley  and  his  follow- 
ers in  religion,  were  the  earliest  and  most  important 
agencies  in  effecting  it.  .  .  .  The  tone  of  thought 
and  feeling  was  changed.  .  .  .  The  standard  of 
political  honor  was  perceptibly  raised.  It  was  felt 
that  enthusiasm,  disinterestedness,  and  self-sacrifice 
had  their  place  in  politics  ;  and,  although  there  was 
afterward,  for  short  periods,  extreme  corruption, 
public  opinion  never  acquiesced  in  it  again."  ^ 

Again  he  says :  f  "  Although  the  career  of  the 
elder  Pitt,  and  the  splendid  victories  by  land  and 
sea  that  were  won  during  his  ministry,  form   un- 

*  '*  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,"  vol.  ii,  pp.  562,  563. 
•♦•  Ibid.,  p.  567,  etc. 
13 


190      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

questionably  the  most  dazzling  episodes  in  the 
reign  of  George  II.,  they  must  yield,  I  think,  in  real 
importance,  to  that  religious  revolution  which 
shortly  before  had  been  begun  in  England  by  the 
preaching  of  the  Wesleys  and  of  Whitefield.  The 
creation  of  a  large,  powerful,  and  active  sect,  ex- 
tending over  both  hemispheres,  and  numbering 
many  millions  of  souls,  was  but  one  of  its  conse- 
quences. It  also  exercised  a  profound  and  lasting 
influence  upon  the  spirit  of  the  Established  Church, 
upon  the  amount  and  distribution  of  the  moral 
forces  of  the  nation,  and  even  upon  the  course  of 
its  political  history." 

Among  the  ulterior  advantages  of  the  Wesleyan 
Reformation  Mr.  Lecky  cites  its  influence  in  pre- 
serving the  English  nation  from  the  French  revolu- 
tionizing tendencies  which  were  felt  by  many  classes 
in  England  at  the  close  of  the  century.  He  says  : 
"  England,  on  the  whole,  escaped  the  contagion. 
Many  causes  conspired  to  save  her,  but  among 
them  a  prominent  place  must,  I  believe,  be  given 
to  the  new  and  vehement  religious  enthusiasm 
which  was  at  that  very  time  passing  through  the 
middle  and  lower  classes  of  the  people,  which  had 
enlisted  in  its  service  a  large  proportion  of  the 
wilder  and  more  impetuous  reformers,  and  which 
recoiled  with  horror  from  the  antichristian  tenets 
that  were  associated  with  the  Revolutioji  in 
France." 


Morals.  191 

Mr.  Lecky's  testimony  is  luminous  and  valua- 
ble. After  speaking  of  the  divergent  tendencies  in 
English  society  and  the  growing  inequalities  in  the 
conditions  of  the  rich  and  the  poor,  in  connection 
with  the  increase  of  capital  and  the  great  manufac- 
turing interests,  the  evils  and  the  dangers  incident 
to  such  a  condition  of  things,  the  growing  distrusts, 
alienations,  etc.,  between  the  higher  and  the  lower 
classes,  not  yet  duly  estimated  by  political  econ- 
omists, he  proceeds  to  say  : 

"  The  true  greatness  and  welfare  of  nations  de- 
pend mainly  on  the  amount  of  moral  force  that  is 
generated  within  them.  Society  can  never  con- 
tinue in  a  state  of  tolerable  security  when  there  is 
no  other  bond  of  cohesion  than  a  mere  money  tie  ; 
and  it  is  idle  to  expect  the  different  classes  of  the 
community  to  join  in  the  self-sacrifice  and  enthu- 
siasm of  patriotism,  if  all  unselfish  motives  are  ex- 
cluded from  their  several  relations.  Every  change 
of  conditions  which  widens  the  chasm  and  impairs 
the  sympathy  between  rich  and  poor  cannot  fail, 
however  beneficial  may  be  its  effects,  to  bring  with 
it  grave  dangers  to  the  State.  It  is  incontestable 
that  the  immense  increase  of  manufacturing  popu- 
lation has  had  this  tendency  ;  and  it  is,  therefore,  I 
conceive,  peculiarly  fortunate  that  it  should  have 
been  preceded  by  a  great  religious  revival,  which 
opened  a  new  spring  of  moral  and  religious  energy 
among   the    poor,   and   at   the  same  time  gave   a 


192      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

powerful     impulse    to    the     philanthropy    of    the 
rich."  * 

In  the  more  recent  periods  English  morals  have 
never  fallen  to  so  low  a  condition. 

Period  III. —  The  United  States  from  1700  to 
1800. 

Passing  over  to  the  American  Continent,  we  find 
a  manifest  decline  in  morals  during  the  one  hundred 
years  following  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims.  The 
influence  of  the  licentious  and  debauched  court  of 
Charles  11.  had  been  felt  among  all  English-speak- 
ing people,  at  home  and  abroad,  and  new  classes  of 
immigrants,  not  actuated,  like  the  first  settlers,  by 
high  religious  motives,  but  by  secular  aims,  and 
many  of  them  paupers  and  criminals  from  work- 
houses and  jails,  had  been  infused  into  the  colonial 
population.  The  corruption  of  manners,  working 
downward  through  English  society  during  the 
reigns  of  William  III.,  Queen  Anne,  and  the  first 
two  Georges,  extended  to  American  shores,  chang- 
ing the  moral  aspects  of  the  people.  In  the  first 
third  of  the  eighteenth  century  this  deterioration 
was  very  plain.  The  drinking  habits,  hitherto  very 
moderate,  were  increased,  though  not  as  bad  as  at 
the  close  of  the  century.  West  India  rum  had  been 
introduced  in  trade  with  those  islands,  and  the 
manufacture  of  rum  was  commenced  in  New  En- 

*  "  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,"  vol.  ii,  pp.  691-694. 


Morals.  193 

gland  in  1 700,  reducinij  the  price,  and  leading  to  its 
more  general  use.  In  the  forty  years  preceding  the 
Edwardean  revival  intoxicating  drinks  had  come 
into  common  use,  and  there  was  much  hard  drink- 
ing •  but  darker  days  were  to  come. 

**  It  is  easy  to  praise  the  fathers  of  New  En- 
gland," said  Theodore  Parker ;  "  easier  to  praise 
them  for  virtues  they  did  not  possess  than  to  dis- 
criminate and  fairly  judge  those  remarkable  men. 
.  .  .  Let  me  mention  a  fact  or  two.  It  is  recorded 
in  the  probate  office  that,  in  1678,  at  the  funeral  of 
Mrs.  Mary  Norton,  widow  of  the  celebrated  John 
Norton,  one  of  the  ministers  of  the  First  Church  in 
Boston,  fifty-one  gallons  and  a  half  of  the  best  Ma- 
laga wine  were  consumed  by  the  '  mourners ; '  in 
1685,  at  the  funeral  of  Rev.  Thomas  Cobbett,  min- 
ister of  Ipswich,  there  were  consumed  one  barrel  of 
wine  and  two  barrels  of  cider,  and,  '  as  it  was  cold,' 
there  were  '  some  spice  and  ginger  for  the  cider.' 
You  may  easily  judge  of  the  drunkenness  and  riot 
on  occasions  less  solemn  than  the  funeral  of  an  old 
and  beloved  minister.  Towns  provided  intoxicating 
drink  at  the  funeral  of  their  paupers.  In  Salem,  in 
1728,  at  the  funeral  of  a  pauper,  a  gallon  of  wine  and 
another  of  cider  are  charged  as  '  incidentals  ;  '  the 
next  year,  six  gallons  of  wine  on  a  similar  occasion. 
In  Lynn,  in  171 1,  the  town  furnished  '  half  a  barrel 
of  cider  for  the  widow  Dispaw's  funeral.'  Af- 
fairs had  come  to  such   a  pass  that,  in   1742^  the 


194      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

General  Court  forbid  the  use  of  wine  and  rum  at 
funerals."  * 

Among  the  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians,  Avho  set- 
tled at  Londonderry,  N.  H.,  about  17 19,  drinking 
habits  became  quite  as  bad  as  in  other  localities. 
In  allusion  to  their  inflexible  adherence  to  their 
creed,  and  their  social  irregularities  on  festive  occa- 
sions, it  was  commonly  said,  "  The  Derry  Presbyte- 
rians never  gave  up  d,  pint  of  doctrine  or  2.  pint  of 
rum."  The  "  Derry  Festival,"  introduced  and  kept 
up  for  many  years,  was  "  a  sort  of  Protestant  carni- 
val " — "  a  wild,  drinking,  horse-racing,  frolicking, 
merry-making,  at  which  strong  drink  abounded." 
Those  who  good-naturedly  wrestled  and  joked  to- 
gether in  the  morning,  not  unfrequently  closed  the 
day  with  a  fight.  William  Stack,  in  describing  his 
ancestors,  the  first  settlers  of  Amoskeag  Falls,  says  : 

*'  Of  the  goodly  men  of  old  Derryfield 
It  was  often  said  that  their  only  care, 
And  their  only  wish,  and  only  prayer, 
For  the  present  world,  and  the  world  to  come. 
Was  a  string  of  eels  and  a  jug  of  rum." 

In  the  inland  town  of  Northampton,  said  Ed- 
wards, "  there  was  far  more  degeneracy  among  the 
young  than  ever  before."  "  Licentiousness,  for 
some  years,  greatly  prevailed  among  the  youth." 
"  The   Sabbath  was  extensively  profaned,  and  the 

*  "  Speeches,  Addresses,  and  Occasional  Sermons."  By  Theo- 
dore Parker.  Pp.  341-397-  Boston  :  Horace  B.  Fuller,  publisher. 
1871. 


Morals.  195 

decorum  of  the  sanctuary  not  unfrequently  dis- 
turbed," This  was  a  fair  sample  of  many  New 
England  towns  at  this  time  ;  while  the  average 
morality  of  Virginia,  Maryland,  and  some  other  sec- 
tions, was  even  lower,  not  having  so  many  conserv- 
ing elements  as  New  England. 

The  clergy,  in  the  Virginia  Colony,  following  the 
style  of  those  in  England,  were  morally  low.  and ' 
the  people  lower  still.  Bishop  Meade  said  :  "  As 
to  the  unworthy  hireling  clergy  of  the  Colony, 
there  was  no  ecclesiastical  discipline  to  correct  or 
punish  their  irregularities  and  vices."  In  the  Prov- 
ince of  Maryland,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  seven- 
teenth  century,  "  The  Lord's  day  was  generally 
profaned,  religion  was  despised,  and  all  notorious 
vices  were  committed,  so  that  it  had  become  a 
Sodom  of  uncleanness  and  a  pest-house  of  iniqui- 
ty." *  "  The  clergy  were  remarkable  for  their 
laxity  of  morals  and  scandalous  behavior."  In  the 
forty  years  following  the  formal  establishment  of 
the  Episcopal  Church  as  the  State  Church  in  Mary- 
land,  in  1692,  there  was  no  moral  improvement,  but 
rather  a  steady  decline,  as  letters  to  the  Bishop  of 
London,  quoted  by  Dr.  Hawks,  fully  show. 

It  was  at  this  time,  simultaneously  with  the  ori- 
gin of  the  Wesleyan  movement  in  England,  though 
of  briefer  duration,   and  less  radical   in  character, 

*  "  Lettei    to   the   Archbishop   of  Canterbury,"    quoted   by   Dr. 
Hawks. 


196      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

that  the  ten  years  of  Edwardean  and  Whitefieldian 
revivals  began,  (1735-1745.)  They  were  an  incal- 
culable  blessing  to  the  Colonial  Churches  and  com- 
munities, checking  for  a  time  the  spread  of  immo- 
rality. But  there  speedily  followed  a  long  and 
troublous  period,  (i 750-1 800,)  and  its  distracting 
events — the  French  and  Indian  wars ;  the  conflict- 
ing agitations  preceding  the  Revolutionary  War; 
the  war  itself,  with  the  usual  depraving  influences ; 
the  depressing  financial  condition  afterward  ;  the 
sharp  conflicts  on  questions  of  civil  polity  attending 
the  organization  of  the  Federal  Government  ;  the 
general  infusion  of  European  skepticism  and  man- 
ners ;  and  the  spread  of  New  England  rum.  A 
detailed  statement  of  American  manners  in  the  last 
quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century  will  exhibit  a 
condition  of  immorality,  having  no  later  parallel  on 
our  shores. 

The  Revolutionary  War  had  not  progressed  far 
before  the  faithful  ministers  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  in  their  Synod,  deplored  the  spread  of 
"  gross  immoralities,"  "  increasing  to  a  fearful  de- 
gree," In  1779  they  lamented  "the  degeneracy 
of  manners,"  and  "  the  prevalence  of  vice  and  im- 
morality that  obtain  throughout  the  land."  A 
sentiment  of  insubordination  grew  up  out  of  the 
infusion  of  French  ideas,  which  declared  "  moral 
obligation  to  be  a  shackle  imposed  by  bigotry  and 
priestcraft,"  revolution  a  right  and  duty,  and  au- 


Morals.  197 

thority  usurpation.  The  revolutionizing  spirit, 
serviceable  in  the  war,  was  so  thoroughly  dififused 
among  the  people  that  it  threatened  new  trouble. 
Men  had  vaunted  about  rights  until  many  felt  that 
any  government  was  an  imposition.  Demagogues 
multiplied,  poisoning  the  minds  of  the  masses,  en- 
gendering the  spirit  of  domestic  scuffle,  instigating 
local  rebellions,  discontent,  and  heart-burnings.  A 
relaxation  of  moral  principle,  and  licentiousness  of 
sentiment  and  conduct,  followed  in  the  footsteps  of 
liberty — the  offspring  of  her  profane  alliance  witi 
French  infidelity.  In  not  a  few  even  of  the  New 
England  towns  desecration  of  the  Sabbath,  lewd- 
ness, neglect  of  the-  sanctuary,  profanity,  and  lovi 
cavils  at  the  Bible  were  common,  and  "  the  last 
vestiges  of  Puritan  morals  seemed  well-nigh  irre- 
coverably effaced." 

This  corrujjtion  extended  into  civil  and  literary 
circles.  The  newspapers  partook  of  the  general 
demoralization.  Jefferson  wrote  :  "  Nothing  can 
now  be  believed  which  is  seen  in  a  newspaper. 
Truth  itself  becomes  suspicious  by  being  put  into 
that  polluted  vehicle.  The  real  extent  of  this  state 
of  misapprehension  is  known  only  to  those  who  are 
in  a  condition  to  confront  facts  within  their  knowl- 
edge with  the  lies  of  the  day."  Rev.  Theodore 
Parker  said  :  "  The  general  character  of  the  press 
since  the  end  of  the  last  century  has  decidedly  im- 
proved, as   any  one  may  convince   himself  of  by 


198      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

comparing  the  newspapers  of  that  period  with  the 
present." 

It  was  an  era  of  bad  feeling,  and  a  political  bit- 
terness was  indulged,  unknown  to  the  partisan 
strifes  of  our  day.  The  debates  on  the  adoption 
of  the  Federal  Constitution  were  of  the  most  exas- 
perating character.  The  Jacobin  intrigues  inflamed 
the  public  feelings,  and  political  bitterness  was  the 
bane  of  Washington's  administration.  With  our 
exalted  views  of  Washington,  it  is  impossible  for  us 
to  conceive  how  he  was  assailed,  maligned,  and 
abused  by  the  press,  and  also  in  public  and  private 
circles.  The  acts  of  his  administration  were  tor- 
tured, and  the  grossest  and  most  insidious  misrep- 
resentations made  "  in  such  exaggerated  and  inde- 
cent terms,"  said  Washington  himself,  "  as  could 
scarcely  be  applied  to  Nero,  or  a  notorious  de- 
faulter, or  even  to  a  common  pickpocket."  In  this 
dark  period  (1796)  a  gentleman  of  the  highest  char- 
acter wrote  to  Washington  :  "  Our  affairs  seem  to 
lead  to  some  crisis,  some  revolution ;  something 
that  I  cannot  foresee  or  conjecture.  I  am  more 
uneasy  than  during  the  war.  .  .  .  We  are  going  and 
doing  wrong,  and  therefore  I  look  forward  to  evils 
and  calamities.  .  .  .  We  are  wofully  and  wickedly 
misled.  Private  rage  for  property  suppresses  pub- 
lic considerations,  and  personal  rather  than  national 
interests  have  become  the  great  objects  of  atten- 
tion."    Washington  replied,  "  Your  sentiments  that 


Morals.  I99 

we  are  drawing  rapidly  to  a  crisis  accord  with  mine. 
What  the  event  will  be  is  beyond  my  foresight.' 
Rev.    Theodore    Parker    said :    "  Political    servility 
and  political  rancor  are  certainly  bad  enough  and 
base  enough   at  this  day;  but  not  long  ago  they 
were  baser  and  worse.     To  show  this,  I  need  only 
appeal  to  the  memories   of  men  before   me,  who 
recollect   the   beginning   of    the    present    century. 
Political  controversies  are  conducted  with  less  bit- 
terness   than  before  ;    honesty  is  more   esteemed  ; 
private  worth  more  respected.     The  Federal  party, 
composed  of  men  who  certainly  were  an  honor  to 
their  age,  supported  Aaron  Burr  for  the  office  of 
Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  a  man  whose 
character,  both  public  and   private,  was  notorious- 
ly marked  with  "the  deepest  infamy.     Political  par- 
ties are   not  very  Puritanical  in  their  virtues  this 
day,  but  I  think  no  party  would  now,  for  a  mo- 
ment, accept  such  a  man  as  Mr.  Burr  for  such  a 
post." 

DueHng  was  then  not  a  sectional,  but  a  national, 
vice.  The  whole  land  was  red  with  the  blood  of 
duelists,  and  filled  with  the  lamentations  of  widows 
and  orphans.  It  was  a  common  crime  of  men  high 
in  office,  and  a  duelist  was  elected,  by  a  large  ma- 
jority, Vice-President  of  the  Union,  even  coming 
within  a  narrow  chance  of  the  presidential  chair. 

Profanity  terribly  abounded,  and  was  not  then 
regarded  as  ungentlemanly.    The  stocks,  the  pillory, 


200      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

and  the  whipping-post  were  common.     Slavery  ex- 
isted in  all  the  States. 

Intemperance  was  an  alarming  evil.  The  manu- 
facture of  New  England  rum  commenced  in  1700, 
increasing  the  home  consumption  of  this  fiery  stim- 
ulant ;  but  the  milder  liquors,  beer  and  wine,  con 
tinued  in  general  use,  until  the  war  of  the  Revohi- 
tion  cut  off  foreign  commerce,  and  gave  an  impulse 
to  the  distillation  of  rum,  when  this  most  vitiating 
of  all  beverages  became  universal.  Furnished  freely 
to  the  soldiers  in  the  army,  at  the  close  of  the  war, 
they  went  forth  with  vitiated  appetites,  increasing 
the  demand  for  distilled  spirits  throughout  the  land. 
In  the  forty  years  following  the  Revolution,  drunk- 
enness fearfully  increased,  until,  in  the  language  of 
a  European  traveler  in  the  United  States  at  that 
time,  it  became  "the  most  striking  characteristic 
of  the  American  people." 

Intemperance  had  not  then  the  weight  of  public 
sentiment  to  struggle  against,  which  has  since  been 
raised  up.  To  get  drunk  did  not  then  injure  a  man's 
reputation  or  influence.  Members  of  Churches,  the 
highest  Church  officials,  deacons  and  ministers, 
drank  immoderately,  without  seriously  compromis- 
ing their  positions.  Said  Rev.  Leonard  Woods. 
D.D. :  "I  remember  when  I  could  reckon  up  among 
my  acquaintances  forty  ministers  who  were  intem- 
perate." Another  gentleman,  living  in  those  times 
subsequently  said  in  a  Boston  newspaper,  "  A  great 


Morals.  201 

many  deacons  in  New  England  died  drunkards.  I 
have  a  list  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-three  intem- 
perate deacons  in  Massachusetts,  fort)'-three  of 
whom  became  sots." 

In  an  old  book,  "  Practical  Infidelity  Portrayed," 
we  find  a  horrid  portrayal  of  the  moral  condition  of 
some  portions  of  the  United  States  just  before  and 
after  the  year  1800.  The  locality,  specially  de- 
scribed is  Orange  County  and  Smith  Cove,  N.  Y. 
Here  was  a  party  organized  for  the  purpose  of  de- 
stroying Christianity  and  civil  government,  and 
the  account  is  given  by  one  who  personally  knew 
them  : 

They  claimed  the  right  to  indulge  in  lasciviousness,  and  to 
recreate  themselves  as  their  propensities  and  appetites  should 
dictate.  I  knew  them  well  as  neighbors,  and  some  as  school- 
mates. I  marked  tlieir  conduct  and  knew  their  deplorable 
ends — almost  all  by  violent  deaths.  Twenty  were  men  and 
seven  females. 

The  conduct  of  the  females  who  associated  with  this  gang 
was  such  as  to  illustrate  its  practical  effects  upon  them.  I  shall 
only  say  that  not  one  of  them  could  or  would  pretend  to  know 
who  were  the  fathers  of  their  offspring.  Perhaps  hell  itself 
could  not  produce  more  disgusting  objects  than  were  some  of 
them.* 

Numerous  localities,  at  that  time,  presented  sim- 
ilar moral  phases.     Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  and  New 

*  "  Piacticnl  Infidelity  Portr.iyed."  By  Alva  Cunningliam.  l2mo. 
New  York  City.  1836.  Pp.  42-46.  These  facts,  and  other  similar 
facts,  are  supported  by  numerous  affidavits  of  respectable  men. 


202      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Jersey  could  produce  many  parallel  cases.  Soci- 
eties, or  clubs  of  Illuminati,  existed  in  Virginia,  in 
affiliation  with  those  of  France.  The  infidelity  of 
the  age  far  exceeded  any  thing  before  or  since 
known  in  America,  and  was  of  the  grossest  kind. 
The  above  portrayal  shov/s  this,  and  also  the  gross 
character  of  the  habits  in  other  respects.  In  some 
other  incidental  matters,  also,  it  exhibits  the  low 
social  and  moral  condition. 

The  Rev.  Devereux  Jarratt  gave  a  dark  picture 
of  society  in  Virginia  near  the  close  of  the  last  cent- 
ury, and  Bishop  Meade's  sketches  of  the  "Old 
Churches  and  Families  of  Virginia "  deepen  the 
shades.  Of  a  portion  of  Kentucky,  Peter  Cartwright, 
speaking  of  the  year  1793,  said,  "It  was  called 
'  Rogues'  Harbor,'  because  '  law  could  not  be  exe- 
cuted.* The  most  abandoned  and  ferocious  lawless- 
ness prevailed.  It  was  a  desperate  state  of  society. 
Refugees  from  justice,  murderers,  horse-thieves, 
highway  robbers,  and  counterfeiters  settled  there, 
and  '  actually  formed  a  majority.'  The  better  ele- 
ments of  society,  called  '  Regulators,'  organized  and 
attempted,  by  arms,  to  put  down  the  '  Rogues,' 
but  were  defeated." 

As  late  as  1803,  according  to  Rev.  Joseph  Bad- 
gei,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  had  no  church,  and  "  infidelity 
and  Sabbath  profanation  were  general."  A  gen- 
tleman visiting  Western  New  York  in  1798  said: 
"  Religion  has  not  got  west  of  the  Genesee  River. 


Morals.  203 

Some  towns  are  hot-beds  of  infidelity."  Of  many 
other  sections  of  the  country  it  was  said,  "There 
was  scarcely  a  vestige  of  the  Christian  religion." 

Rev^  Dr.  I.  N.  Tarbox  says:  "A  sentence  from 
the  'Andover  (Mass.)  Manual'  opens  another  subject 
of  great  significance,  as  showing  the  real  condition 
of  the  Churches  in  the  last  century.  We  are  told, 
as  a  part  of  the  history  of  that  Church,  that  '  the 
chief  causes  of  discipline  for  a  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  years  were  fornication  and  drunkenness.'  And 
the  writer  adds :  *  He  who  investigates  the  records 
of  this  or  any  other  Church  for  the  same  period 
will  be  astonished  at  the  prevalence  of  these  vices, 
as  compared  with  the  present  time,'  "  * 

The  Pastoral  Letter  issued  in  1798  by  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  was  full 
of  alarm  and  expostulation :  "  When  formidable 
innovations  and  convulsions  in  Europe  threaten 
destruction  to  morals  and  religion  ;  when  scenes  of 
devastation  and  bloodshed,  unexampled  in  the  his- 
tory of  modern  nations,  have  convulsed  the  world; 
and  when  our  own  country  is  threatened  with  sim- 
ilar calamities,  insensibility  in  us  would  be  stupid- 
ity; silence  would  be  criminal.  ,  .  .  We  desire  to 
direct  your  awakened  attention  toward  that  burst- 
ing storm,  which  threatens  to  sweep  before  it  the 

*  "  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Congregational  Churches  of  Massa- 
chusetts from  1776  to  1876."  Minutes  of  the  General  Association  fo» 
'877.  P- 33- 


204      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

religious  principles,  institutions,  and  morals  of  our 
people.  We  are  filled  with  deep  concern  and  aw- 
ful dread,  while  we  announce  it  as  our  conviction 
that  the  eternal  God  has  a  controversy  with  our  na- 
tion, and  is  about  to  visit  us  in  his  sore  displeasure. 
.  .  We  perceive  with  pain  and  fearful  apprehen- 
sion a  general  dereliction  of  religious  principle  and 
practice  among  our  fellow-citizens  ;  a  great  departure 
from  the  faith  and  simple  purity  of  manners  for 
which  our  fathers  were  remarkable ;  a  visible  and 
prevailing  impiety  and  contempt  for  the  laws  and 
institutions  of  religion  ;  and  an  abounding  infidelity, 
which,  in  many  instances,  tends  to  atheism  itself." 
In  this  alarming  condition  of  things,  they  say:  "A 
dissolution  of  religious  society  seems  to  be  threat- 
ened by  the  supineness  and  inattention  of  many 
ministers  and  professors  of  Christianity."  "  For- 
mality and  deadness,  not  to  say  hypocrisy,  a  con- 
tempt for  vital  godliness  and  the  spirit  of  fervent 
piety,  a  desertion  of  the  ordinances,  or  a  cold  and 
unprofitable  attendance  upon  them,  visibly  per- 
vaded every  part  of  the  Church."  "  The  profligacy 
and  corruption  of  public  morals  have  advanced  with 
a  progress  proportioned  to  our  declension  in  religion. 
Profaneness,  pride,  luxury,  injustice,  intemperance, 
lewdness,  and  every  species  of  debauchery  and  loose 
indulgence,  greatly  abound." 

The  means  for  combating  these  evils  were  then 
small.      In   large  sections  of  the  land   the  people 


Morals.  205 

either  were  not  supplied  with  gospel  preaching  or 
the  supply  was  very  scanty.  There  were  no  tracts, 
and  very  few  religious  books  and  Bibles.  The  age 
of  tract  and  Bible  societies  had  not  dawned.  Dur- 
ing the  colonial  history  no  Bibles  except  Eliot's  In- 
dian Bible  were  allowed  by  the  mother  country  to 
be  printed.  They  were,  therefore,  scarce  and  expen- 
sive, and  during  the  Revolutionary  War  a  few  were 
imported,  with  great  difficulty,  from  Scotland  and 
Holland.  The  first  English  edition  of  the  holy 
Scriptures  was  published  in  1 781,  by  Robert  Aiken, 
of  Philadelphia.  So  meager  were  the  means  of 
resistance  against  the  evils  of  that  period.  Prior 
to  that  time  all  Bibles,  except  Eliot's  Indian  Bible, 
had  been  imported  from  Europe. 

It  is  natural  for  some  people  to  indulge  in  whole- 
sale glorification  of  the  past,  for  they  learned  it  from 
their  grandfathers  and  grandmothers,  who  perhaps 
performed  some  heroic  part  in  the  great  events  of 
the  last  century,  or  were  witnesses  of  the  great 
struggles  of  that  period.  The  last  thirty  years  of  the 
eighteenth  century  were  full  of  memorable  struggles 
and  triumphs — the  independence,  the  Revolutionary 
War,  the  adoption  of  the  constitution,  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  government,  the  Indian  wars,  and  the 
numerous  incidental  struggles.  The  times  called 
for  a  vigorous  type  of  manhood,  decision,  and  clear 
thinking,  and  this  class  of  virtues  were  remarkably 
developed  in  that  stormy  period,  though  the  finer 
14 


2o6      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

qualities  of  moral  culture,  aesthetic  taste,  and  ag- 
gressive Christianity  suffered  from  neglect.  The 
men  of  those  times  were  founding  the  state,  and 
initiating  a  style  of  government  hitherto  compara- 
tively unknown  and  experimental,  involving  much 
faith  in  God  and  in  humanity.  They  were  bold  in- 
augurators,  good  men  for  their  day,  though  not  up 
to  our  more  advanced  standards. 


CHAPTER  II. 
THE   PRESENT   PERIOD 

SPECIFIC    TENDENCIES. 

The   Sabbath. 

Slavery  and  Barbarism. 

Unehastity  and  Divorce. 

Innpure   Literature. 

Crime. 


Morals.  209 


T 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   PRESENT   PERIOD. 

HE  review  of  the  preceding  periods  has  pre- 
pared us  to  judge  more  intelligently  the  moral 
condition  of  our  own  times.     The  task,  however,  is 
still  attended  with  difficulties ;  for  to  judge  our  times 
is  much  like  judging  ourselves.     Future  judges  may 
modify   our   best    conclusions.      To    compare    the 
moral  condition  of  the  same  people  in  two  different 
periods  requires  much  careful  discrimination.     So 
many  diverse  elements,   currents,  ebbs,  and  flows 
enter  into  the  life  of  any  people,  and  especially  of  a 
young  nation  like  ours— an  asylum  for  all  nations— 
and  in  times  so  stimulating,  intense,  and  revolution- 
izing in  the  realm  of  ideas,  that  there  is  a  liability  to 
error  in  any  conclusion  that  may  be  reached.     With 
many  first  appearances,  or  fancies  and  prepossessions, 
instead  of  a  definite  basis  of  facts,  determine  conclu- 
sions.    It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  on  a  ques 
tion  so  complicated  as  this  a  considerable  diversity 
of  views  should  exist :  and  it  would  be  wonderful  if 
a  being  so  much  inclined  to  fault-finding  as  man 
should  fail  to  sometimes  indulge  in  that  peculiar 
luxury. 


2  TO      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

For  ourselves,  we  may  say  that  the  careful  study 
of  the  period  under  consideration,  notwithstanding 
its  serious  currents  of  evil,  some  of  them  increasing 
and  others  new,  has  resulted  in  the  comforting  con- 
viction that  a  very  great  and  substantial  improve- 
ment has  taken  place  in  the  average  moral  purity  of 
American  society  and  of  the  American  Churches. 

It  should,  however,  be  kept  continually  in  mind 
that  the  world  abounds  in  evil;  that  under  the  ex- 
traordinary light  and  intelligence  of  the  age  unu- 
sual hardness  and  impiety  are  to  be  expected  in 
those  resisting ;  that  an  age  so  intensely  active  will 
be  likely  to  be  characterized  by  a  corresponding 
activity  and  intensity  in  evil ;  and  that  rank  and 
monstrous  developments  of  evil  will  justify  the  pre- 
diction, "  Evil  men  and  seducers  will  wax  worse 
and  worse,"  even  while  the  average  moral  condition 
may  be  radically  improving. 

The  progress  of  society  is  not  wholly  in  straight 
lines  or  by  uniform  rates.  Currents  have  their  ed- 
dies, flows  their  ebbs.  The  best  advancement  of 
the  world  has  sometimes  seemed  oscillatory  or  re- 
ceding. Beating  against  the  wind  is  a  frequent 
method  of  moral  navigation.  Human  Progress, 
said  Theodore  Parker,  is  much  like  the  flight  of 
wild  fowl.  The  leaders  continually  change  ;  the  old 
fall  to  the  rear,  and  new  ones  come  to  the  front, 
soon  to  give  place  to  others.  But  the  whole  flock 
is   advancing.     So   with  the  flock   of  virtues   and 


Morals.  2 1 1 

vices.  The  actual  progress  of  communities  can  be 
determined  only  with  due  discrimination  in  regard 
to  things  phenomenal,  temporary,  and  collateral. 

In  such  a  spirit  we  inspect  the  facts  of  our  na- 
tional life,  indicative  of  the  moral  condition  and 
progress  during  this  century. 

The  great  revival  of  religion  which  spread  through 
almost  the  whole  land  from  1800  to  1803,  inaugu- 
rated an  era  of  better  moral  and  religious  life.  The 
dark  and  gloomy  spell  of  evil  under  which  the 
country  had  struggled  in  the  two  preceding  decades 
was  in  a  good  measure  broken  ;  the  Churches  were 
invested  with  new  power  ;  the  tone  of  public  mor- 
als improved  ;  and  new  currents  were  introduced, 
destined,  in  due  time,  to  work  out  beneficent  re- 
sults. Such  intelligent  observers  as  Rev.  Drs.  He- 
man  Humphry,  E.  D.  Griffin,  Nathan  Bangs,  Elijah 
Hedding,  Lyman  Beecher,  and  Hons.  Reuben  H. 
Walworth,  John  Cotton  Smith,  and  John  Quincy 
Adams,  all  familiar  with  those  times,  bore  ample 
and  decisive  testimony  to  this  change.  But  the  tes- 
timony of  facts  must  be  cited. 

The  Sabbath. 

The  disregard  of  the  Sabbath  in  the  last  two  de- 
cades of  the  last  century,  so  serious  in  all  the  older 
communities,  and  total  in  many  of  the  new  settle- 
ments, still  continued  a  flagrant  offense  against 
morals  after  the  present  century  opened.     In  large 


212      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

portions  of  the  West  and  South-west  the  only  rec- 
ognition of  the  Sabbath  was  a  general  devotion  to 
pleasure,  gaming,  and  visiting.  The  home  mission- 
aries and  itinerant  preachers  who  first  visited  West- 
ern New  York,  Ohio,  Michigan,  and  the  regions 
farther  south  and  south-west,  encountered  a  condi- 
tion of  morals  calling  for  stern  courage  and  hero- 
ism. They  found  Sunday  a  day  of  amusement, 
spent  in  horse-racing  and  dissipation.  The  stores 
were  kept  open,  and  "  the  only  distinguishing  feat- 
ure of  the  day  was  an  excess  of  wickedness."  This 
state  of  things  existed  in  those  sections  for  several 
decades. 

Bishop  Meade  represented  the  condition  of  things 
in  Eastern  Virginia  as  but  little  better.  At  the 
time  of  his  consecration  to  the  ministry,  in  1811,  at 
Williamsburgh,  Va.,  the  seat  of  William  and  Mary's 
College,  and,  therefore,  presumed  to  be  the  most 
cultivated  part  of  that  State,  (Bishop  Madison  of 
that  diocese,  president  of  the  college,  residing 
there,)  the  disregard  of  the  Sabbath  was  almost  to- 
tal. "  On  our  way  to  the  old  church,"  he  said, 
"  the  Bishop  and  myself  met  a  company  of  students 
with  guns  on  their  shoulders  and  dogs  at  their  sides, 
attracted  by  the  frosty  morning,  which  was  favor- 
able to  the  chase,  and  at  the  same  time  one  of  the 
citizens  was  filling  his  ice-house.  On  arriving  at 
the  church  we  found  it  in  a  wretched  condition, 
with  broken  windows  and  a  gloomy,  comfortless  as- 


Morals.  213 

pect.  The  congregation  consisted  of  two  ladies  and 
fifteen  gentlemen,  nearly  all  of  whom  were  relatives 
or  acquaintances."  *  He  also  describes  a  similar 
condition  of  things  in  Richmond,  and  elsewhere  in 
Virginia. 

In  staid  Connecticut  Sabbath  desecration  was  so 
serious  that  the  "  Society  for  the  Reformation  of 
Morals,"  organized  in  1812,  under  the  leadership  of 
Rev.  Lyman  Beecher,  in  addition  to  intemperance, 
gave  special  prominence  to  Sabbath-breaking  as  one 
of  the  evils  from  which  they  hoped  to  deliver  the 
State. 

After  1 8 10,  mails  were  carried  on  the  Sabbath  on 
all  the  routes  in  the  United  States,  and  the  post- 
offices  were  kept  open.  This  practice  continued 
more  than  twenty  years,  notwithstanding  numer- 
ous remonstrances.  All  the  religious  bodies  repeat- 
edly protested,  and  memorialized  Congress  on  the 
subject,  from  18 12  until  after  1830,  but  with  little 
effect.  Matters  grew  worse  instead  of  better ;  for 
whereas  the  law  of  18 10  required  only  those  post- 
offices  where  the  mails  arrived  on  Sunday  to  be 
kept  open,  and  that  only  for  an  hour,  in  1825  a 
more  lax  law  was  enacted,  requiring  that  all  post- 
offices,  at  which  mails  arrived  on  the  Sabbath, 
should  be  kept  open  during  the  whole  of  the  day. 

♦"Old  Churches,  Ministers,  and  Families  of  Virginia."  By 
Bishop  William  Meade,  Vol.  i,  pp.  29,30,et<..  Philadelphia  :  J.  B. 
Lippincott  &  Co.     1857. 


214      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Public  military  honors  were  paid  to  General  La- 
fayette, in  1824,  on  the  Lord's  day.  At  its  next 
session,  the  General  Association  of  Massachusetts 
expressed  grave  apprehensions  on  account  of  **  the 
growing  indifference  to  the  sanctity  of  the  day,"  and 
the  "repeated  violations  of  it."  In  1827  a  crowd 
of  opposers  violently  interfered  and  prevented  Rev. 
Gardner  Spring,  D.D.,  and  other  influential  gentle- 
men, from  holding  a  meeting  in  City  Hall,  New 
York,  for  promoting  the  better  observance  of  the 
Sabbath. 

In  March,  1830,  Hon.  Richard  M.  Johnston,  Post- 
master General,  outraged  the  moral  sentiments  of 
the  nation,  in  an  official  reply  to  memorials  asking 
for  the  repeal  of  the  laws  requiring  the  post-offices 
to  be  kept  open  the  whole  of  Sunday.  Respecting 
that  report  it  was  said:  *'  Satan  never  accomplished 
a  greater  victory  over  the  Sabbath,  through  any 
agency,  in  any  country,  than  was  accomplished  by 
this  report,  if  we  except  the  abolition  of  the  Sab 
bath,  in  France,  during  the  reign  of  infidelity." 

In  1834,  by  a  general  repealing  clause,  all  the 
Sabbath  observance  laws  in  New  York  city  disap- 
peared, and  in  their  place  was  found  a  law  prohibit- 
ing religious  meetings  in  the  Park  and  other  public 
places,  unless  held  by  a  licensed  minister  of  the 
Gospel,  and  with  the  written  permission  of  the 
mayor  or  aldermen.  Some  years  later  the  only 
law  bearing  on  the  Sabbath,  in  New  York,  was  a 


Morals.  215 

prohibition  against  the  firing  of  a  gun  on  Sunday, 
and  the  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks,  the  latter  of 
which  was  supposed  to  be  superseded  by  a  law  of 
the  State. 

In  1840  the  "come-outer"  wing  of  radical  aboli- 
tionists assailed  the  Sabbath,  and  denounced  it  in 
conventions,  lectures,  newspapers,  etc.,  exerting  a 
very  pernicious  influence  against  the  sacred  day, 
through  several  years. 

In  1842  the  American  and  Foreign  Sabbath 
Union  was  formed.  Under  the  leadership  of  Rev. 
Justin  Edwards,  D.D.,  its  agent,  a  redoubtable 
champion  of  reform,  a  broad  and  influential  move- 
ment was  inaugurated,  enlisting  leading  statesmen, 
and  influential  gentlemen,  in  all  sections  of  the 
land,  and  securing  favorable  action  by  the  State 
Legislatures.  In  1844  a  National  Convention  was 
held  in  Baltimore,  attended  by  upward  of  seventeen 
hundred  delegates,  from  eleven  different  States,  at 
which  Hon.  John  Quincy  Adams  presided.  Through 
several  years  much  attention  was  devoted  to  the 
discontinuance  of  railroad  trains  and  steamboats 
on  Sundays ;  and  Hon.  E.  C.  Delavan,  of  Albany, 
printed,  and  gratuitously  circulated  among  the 
stockholders  and  travelers  of  the  New  York  Central 
road  one  hundred  thousand  copies  of  Dr.  Edwards' 
"  Sabbath  Manual,"  to  prepare  the  way  for  the 
cars  to  cease  running  on  Sunday.  After  eight  years 
of  arduous  labors,  traveling  more  than  forty-eight 


2i6      Problem  of  Religious  i^rogress. 

thousand  miles,  in  twenty-five  different  States,  ad- 
dressing men  through  the  pulpit  and  the  press, 
Dr.  Edwards  summed  up  the  glorious  results  of  his 
labors  in  these  lines : 

"  Railroad  directors,  in  an  increasing  number  of 
cases,  have  confined  the  running  of  their  cars  to  six 
days  in  the  week ;  locks  on  canals  are  not  opened ; 
and  official  business  is  not  transacted  on  the  Sab- 
bath. Stages  and  steamboats  in  many  cases  have 
ceased  to  run  ;  and  more  than  eighty  thousand  miles 
of  Sabbath-breaking  mails  have  been  stopped.  .  .  . 

"  About  forty  railroad  companies  have  stopped 
the  running  of  their  cars  on  that  day,  on  about  four 
thousand  miles  of  roads.  The  communities  through 
which  they  pass,  and  whose  right  to  the  stillness 
and  the  quiet  of  the  day  had  for  years  been  grossly 
violated,  by  the  screaming  and  rumbling  of  cars  in 
time  of  public  worship,  are  now  free  from  the  nui- 
sance, and  are  permitted  to  enjoy  their  rights  and 
privileges  without  molestation." 

The  year  1850  was  the  period  of  the  best  general 
observance  of  the  Sabbath  that  had  then  been 
known  for  one  hundred  years.  About  that  time, 
however,  a  very  large  new  element  was  introduced 
into  American  society,  destined  to  seriously  modify 
our  habits  and  hfe.  The  great  European  immigra- 
tion set  upon  our  shores  about  1848,  and  came  in 
rapidly  swelling  waves  in  the  following  years,  bring- 
ing Sabbath  ideas  and  habits  radically  different  from 


Morals.  217 

ours.  A  decline  in  Sabbath  observance  was  soon 
apparent. 

To  resist  these  encroachments  upon  public  mo- 
rahty,  in  1854,  Christian  men  came  together  and 
organized  the  New  York  Sabbath  Committee,  the 
record  of  whose  labors  is  worthy  of  more  extended 
notice  than  we  can  here  devote  to  it. 

In  1856  the  Sabbath  desecration  in  New  York 
city  was  described  as  presenting  a  fearful  picture. 
Steamboats  arrived  and  departed,  and  railway  trains 
bore  an  immense  freight  of  passengers  into  neigh- 
boring towns,  to  return  at  night  with  half-intoxi- 
cated crowds;  dance- houses  emitted  mingled  noises 
of  music,  dancing,  and  swearing;  red-curtained  grog- 
shops stood  open  in  the  larger  avenues ;  the  public 
gardens  were  full  of  target-shooters,  gamblers,  and 
drinkers ;  many  branches  of  business  continued  in 
full  blast ;  shops,  foundries,  and  machine  factories 
continued  their  work ;  engine  companies  and  pro- 
cessions paraded  the  streets ;  academies  of  music 
and  theaters  were  open  for  "  sacred  "  performances; 
and,  in  short,  "  the  Sabbath  became  the  vilest  day 
of  the  seven." 

No  such  picture  could  then  be  drawn  of  any  other 
Northern  Atlantic  city.  Boston  was  bad  enough ; 
but  the  Sabbath  was  a  quiet  day.  Its  wickedness 
was  not  noisy  and  demonstrative,  nor  in  the  major- 
ity. But  there  was  a  growing  laxity  in  the  observ- 
ance of  the  Lord's  day. 


2i8       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

The  New  York  Committee  attributed  the  grow- 
ing desecration  of  the  Sabbath  to  the  following 
causes :  Selfishness  and  worldliness,  the  preoccupa- 
tion and  neglect  of  Christian  men,  the  multiplication 
of  lines  of  travel  into  the  interior  of  the  country, 
European  travel,  the  immense  immigration  from 
Europe,  and,  above  all,  the  desire  for  recreation. 

In  1859  ^  New  York  newspaper  said:  "It  ap- 
pears that  there  are  7,779  places  where  liquors  are 
sold  in  the  city,  of  which  only  72  have  license  from 
the  Excise  Commissioners,  and  that  5,186  houses 
continue  their  business  on  Sunday,  in  violation  of 
State  and  city  statutes ;  and  it  is  estimated  that  at 
least  the  sum  of  $1,348,360  is  expended  in  the  grog- 
shops on  the  fifty-two  Sundays  of  the  year.  It  fur- 
ther appears  that  of  the  27,845  commitments  to 
prison  in  1857,  no  less  a  proportion  than  23,817  of 
these,  or  about  6  out  of  every  7,  were  of  persons  of 
'intemperate  habits;*  of  whom,  again,  sixty  per 
cent,  were  mere  youths  and  young  men  between 
ten  and  thirty  years  of  age.  Lastly,  another  set  of 
statistics  shows  that,  taking  seventy-six  successive 
Sundays,  the  criminal  arrests  were  9,713,  while  for 
the  same  number  of  Tuesdays  there  were  but  7,861 
— a  difference  of  twenty-five  per  cent. — traceable  to 
the  Sunday  grog-shops." 

Foreign  immigration  exerted  an  influence  almost 
incalculable  in  promoting  Sabbath  desecration.  At 
the  date  of  which  we  now  speak,  more  than  one 


Morals.  219 

half  of  the  population  of  New  York  city  were  either 
foreign-born  or  their  immediate  offspring,  and  with 
European  ideas  of  the  Sabbath.  Few  of  the  cities 
of  Ireland  had  a  larger  Irish  population,  and  few 
cities  of  Germany  a  larger  German  population,  than 
Ne\\  York,  and  it  was  particularly  the  Germans 
who  took  the  lead  in  Sabbath  profanation,  trans- 
planting to  our  country,  not  the  German  Sabbath 
of  Germany  itself,  but  of  the  most  irreligious  and 
atheistic  portion  of  that  people.  In  this  new  soil 
it  reached  an  enormity  of  development  that  would 
have  astonished  the  natives  at  home.  The  great 
mass  of  the  children,  released  from  the  imperative 
necessity  of  receiving  a  good  theoretical  religious 
education,  which  in  Germany  is  rigidly  enforced 
upon  all,  in  this  land  grow  up  to  live  absolutely 
without  any  recognition  of  God  or  his  sacred  laws ; 
many  of  their  newspapers  openly  denying  the  sa- 
credness  of  the  Bible,  and  even  the  existence  of 
God.  To  them  Sunday  was  a  day  to  eat,  drink,  and 
be  merry.  It  was  early  seen  that  every  year  an 
increasing  portion  of  the  American  people  were 
adopting  these  customs,  so  that  this  element,  in- 
stead of  being  absorbed  into  our  native  element, 
was  absorbing  a  portion  of  the  native  element. 

We  have  spoken  of  New  York  city  because  these 
agencies  were  there  most  conspicuously  working  at 
that  time,  and,  through  the  hot-bed  fermentations 
of  city  life,  earliest  ripened  there  into  the  natural 


220      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

fruit.  But  the  same  seed  was  scattered  all  ovei  the 
continent.  The  cities  of  the  West  partook  of  the 
same  type,  those  of  the  East  were  infected,  and  the 
fruitage  was  destined  to  be  seen  every-where. 

At  one  time,  reviewing  the  work  of  the  Sabbath 
Committee,  Dr.  Gardner  Spring  said  : 

"  They  have  not  labored  in  vain.  They  have 
suppressed  the  vociferous  cries  of  the  Sunday  news- 
boys, ...  in  defiance  of  the  most  violent  ribaldry 
and  abuse.  They  have  suppressed  the  Sunday  pa- 
geant of  the  Fire  Department,  so  that  it  has  fallen 
into  disuse  under  the  weight  of  its  own  folly.  They 
have  rectified  the  abuses  of  the  Sabbath  in  Central 
Park.  They  have  suppressed  the  Sunday  liquor 
traffic  to  a  great  extent,  .  .  .  and  driven  it  into  cor- 
ners. They  have  suppressed  the  Sunday  theaters 
and  beer-gardens,  and  the  Sunday  concerts,  etc.  .  .  . 
They  have  carried  the  reform  into  our  canals,  our 
steamboats,  our  flouring  and  salt  establishments, 
and  our  fisheries." 

Since  that  time  the  wave  has  receded ;  but,  after 
all,  Sabbath  desecration  is  the  exception  rather 
than  the  general  practice.  But  few,  relatively,  of 
the  railroad  trains  run.  Nearly  all  the  engines  lie 
still.  Business  is  almost  entirely  hushed.  But  few 
stores,  libraries,  and  museums  are  opened.  With 
almost  no  attempts,  by  legal  prosecutions,  to  en- 
force the  observance  of  the  day,  its  very  general 
voluntary  observance,  becomingly  and  sacredly,  by 


Morals.  221 

such  large  masses  of  people  is  clear  evidence  of  the 
elevated  moral  sentiment  that  dominates  the  land, 
speaking  more  loudly  of  real  virtue  than  the  con- 
strained observance  secured  by  rigorous  civil  penal- 
ties under  the  regimen  of  our  Puritan  fathers. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  theoretical  changes 
have  been  working  in  many  minds,  the  views  of 
good  men  of  the  highest  rank,  religiously  and  mor- 
ally, having  undergone  some  modifications.  The 
Puritan  Sabbath  has  come  to  be  regarded  as  an  ex- 
treme toward  the  Talmudical  Sabbath  of  the  Phar- 
isees, incumbered  with  vestments  not  scriptural, 
nor  even  Mosaic,  and  far  removed  from  the  spirit 
and  character  of  the  Christian  Sabbath.  The  tend- 
ency is  toward  a  Christian  ideal  of  the  sacred  day. 
Many,  however,  have  gone  to  the  extreme  of  laxity. 

Each  age  requires  for  its  peculiar  necessities  a  re- 
statement of  familiar  truths  and  principles  ;  for  they 
are  assailed  from  new  quarters  and  by  new  argu- 
ments. The  Christian  Church  is  adjusting  lines  of 
discussion  which  will  fully  meet  these  demands,  and 
is  freshly  presenting  and  arguing  fundamental  prin- 
ciples, which  will  effectually  vindicate  the  eternal 
sanctity  of  the  Sabbath.  It  is  demonstrating  that 
the  essential  sanctions  and  obligations  of  the  Jew- 
ish Sabbath  are  transferred  to  the  Christian  Sunday  ; 
that  the  evidences  for  the  necessity  of  a  day  of  rest 
are  inwrought  in  man's  physical,  intellectual,  and 

religious  nature  ;  and  that  the  laws  requiring  Sab- 
15 


222      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

bath  observance  are  compatible  with  the  most  per- 
fect personal  freedom — "  the  law  of  rest  of  all  be- 
ing necessary  to  the  liberty  of  rest  of  each." 

Slavery. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  century  slavery  existed 
throughout  all  the  world.  Hungary  numbered  nine 
millions  of  slaves,  and  the  Russian,  Austrian,  and 
Prussian  peasantry  were  mostly  slaves,  or  serfs  in 
a  low  condition.  For  some  years  after  this  century 
opened  an  Englishman  might  sell  his  wife  into 
servitude.  Slavery  existed  in  Scotland  down  to  the 
very  last  year  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  col- 
liers and  salters  were  slaves  bound  to  service  for 
life,  and  were  bought  and  sold  with  the  works  at 
which  they  labored.  During  the  first  seven  years 
of  this  century  English  ships  conveyed  annually 
over  the  Atlantic  forty  thousand  Africans,  one  half 
of  whom  perished  at  sea  or  soon  after  landing. 
Twenty-six  acts  of  the  British  Parliament  expressed 
approval  of  the  traffic,  and  it  required  twenty 
years  of  agitation  to  suppress  it,  and  twenty-six 
more  to  procure  emancipation.  The  whip  was  freely 
used  in  the  English  West  Indies,  and  even  the  flog- 
ging of  women  was  practiced  till  eight  years  after 
the  Battle  of  Waterloo.  In  1833  emancipation 
was  decreed,  and  six  hundred  thousand  slaves  were 
liberated  by  the  expenditure  of  twenty  millions 
sterling. 


Morals.  223 

In  the  United  States  the  evil  was  not  so  easily 
disposed  of.  Here  it  wrought  with  incalculable 
mischief  and  demoralization  in  all  ranks  of  society, 
North  and  South.  Considered  in  all  its  phases,  the 
institution  of  slavery  did  more  to  corrupt  and  dete- 
riorate American  manners  than  any  other  single 
cause.  It  was  a  fountain  of  glaring  injustice,  bloody 
barbarism,  the  grossest  licentiousness,  the  darkest 
ignorance,  the  most  perfidious  sophistry ;  in  short, 
"  the  sum  of  all  villainies."  It  extended  its  corrupt 
sway  even  to  the  best  circles  of  society  in  the  North, 
and  made  eminent  instructors  in  law  and  piety 
pleaders  and  apologists  for  the  rankest  injustice. 
The  hallucinating  power  of  our  Western  cotton  ri- 
valed the  hempen  hasheesh  of  the  East,  and  made 

"Or  fools  or  knaves  of  all  who  ate  it." 

*  The  preacher  eats,  and  straight  appears 

His  Bible  in  a  new  translation  ; 
Its  angels  negro  overseers, 

And  heaven  itself  a  snug  plantation. 

"The  noisiest  Democrat,  with  ease 

It  turns  to  slavery's  parish  beadle  ; 
The  shrewdest  statesman  eats,  and  sees 

Due  southward  point  the  polar  needle. 

"  The  judge  partakes,  and  sits  ere  long 
Upon  his  bench  a  railing  blackguard  ; 

Decides  off-hand  that  right  is  wrong, 
And  reads  the  ten  commandments  backward." 

The  legislation  of  the  country  on  the  slavery 
question  was  of  the  most  corrupt  and  deteriorating 


224       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

character:  whether  we  look  at  the  local  legislation 
of  the  several  States,  delivering  over  the  blacks 
more  and  more  completely,  soul  and  body,  to  the 
most  abject  and  debasing  servitude,  shutting  out 
the  means  of  enlightenment  and  amelioration  al- 
lowed in  earlier  periods  ;  or  the  legislation  of  Con 
gress,  violating  grave  ordinances  which  had  been 
declared  final  and  unalterable,  compromising  and 
then  violating  compromises,  bartering  sacred  hu- 
man rights  for  the  broth  of  office,  entering  into  war 
with  Mexico  for  the  purpose  of  extending  the  area 
of  slavery,  turning  the  whole  North  into  a  hunting- 
ground  for  slaves,  and  outraging  the  most  palpable 
principles  of  law  and  justice  in  their  arrest  and  re- 
committal to  slavery.  Each  and  all  these  acts,  from 
the  great  Missouri  Compromise,  through  all  the  pro- 
slavery  constructions  placed  upon  the  Constitution, 
to  the  infamous  Kansas  perfidy  and  crime,  were 
not  only  destructive  of  good  morals,  but  also  posi- 
tively barbarous  and  brutalizing  in  tendency — the 
abundant  seed-sowing  of  the  more  recent  outrages 
and  atrocities  in  the  Southern  States.  The  pro- 
slavery  theories,  in  their  politico-moral  bearings ; 
the  Scripture  vindication  of  slavery,  in  its  religious 
bearing;  the  humiliating  bondage  of  large  ecclesi- 
astical bodies  to  the  slave  power ;  the  loose  sexual 
relations  of  the  whites  with  the  slaves ;  the  almost 
entire  absence  of  ethical  inculcations  in  connection 
with  the  scanty  religious  instruction  imparted  to 


Morals.  225 

the  slaves,  leaving  them  wholly  undeveloped  in 
moral  ideas,  and  immoral  in  habits  while  ardent  in 
religious  sentiment ;  and  the  brutal  severity  prac- 
ticed to  hold  in  subjection  the  rapidly  multiply- 
ing serfs — were  productive  of  an  untold  amount  of 
moral  impurity  and  deterioration. 

The  statistics  of  homicides  and  other  atrocious 
crimes  in  the  South  show  that  the  pernicious  pro- 
slavery  seed-sowing  of  the  century  has  produced  a 
fearful  harvest.  According  to  the  census  for  1870,  in 
North  Carolina  there  was  one  violent  death  to  every 
twenty-two  thousand  of  population ;  in  South  Car- 
olina, one  to  nineteen  thousand ;  in  Georgia,  one  to 
ten  thousand  ;  in  Alabama,  one  to  ten  thousand  ;  in 
Florida,  one  to  four  thousand  ;  in  Mississippi,  one  to 
nine  thousand;  in  Louisiana,  one  to  six  thousand; 
in  Arkansas,  one  to  six  thousand  three  hundred ;  in 
Texas,  one  to  two  thousand  five  hundred.  The 
ratio  in  the  nine  States  is  one  in  seven  thousand 
three  hundred ;  and,  even  excluding  Texas,  which 
shows  such  a  horrible  record,  the  proportion  is  one 
to  nine  thousand  six  hundred.  At  this  rate  the 
homicides  in  the  whole  United  States  should  have 
exceeded  forty  thousand,  or  nearly  twenty  times  as 
many  as  actually  occurred.  It  may  put  these  fig- 
ures in  a  somewhat  clearer  light  if  we  call  attention 
to  the  fact  that  the  homicides  in  Florida  exceeded 
by  two  those  in  all  the  New  England  States ;  that 
Louisiana  exceeded  those  for  the  two  most  populous 


226       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

States — New  York  and  Pennsylvania  —  combined; 
and  that  Texas  alone  records  more  than  half  as 
many  murders  as  all  the  States  that  were  loyal  dur- 
ing the  war. 

"  If  statistics  are  good  for  any  thing,  these  figures 
prove  conclusively  that  a  state  of  society  existed  in 
the  South,  previous  to  the  passage  of  the  Ku-Klux 
bill,  which  demanded  interference.  In  a  great  sec- 
tion of  the  country,  comprising  fourteen  States,  with 
a  population  of  thirteen  millions,  life  was  so  insecure 
that  one  in  every  ten  thousand  met  death  by  pre- 
meditated violence  in  one  year,  and  a  large  propor- 
tion of  these,  in  at  least  twelve  of  the  States,  was 
traceable  directly  to  an  organization  which  aimed 
at  political  power  through  murder  and  robbery." 

Statistics  recently  collected  in  Kentucky,  cover- 
ing the  period  of  about  five  years,  (i 874-1 879,)  in 
several  counties,  present  a  most  appalling  showing 
of  high  crimes  and  the  laxity  of  law. 

Soon  after  the  last  decade  opened  there  seemed 
to  be  a  subsidence  of  the  wave  of  savagery,  and 
many  felt  hopeful  in  reference  to  the  South,  but  a 
reflex  soon  followed.  "  The  Chicago  Tribune,"  Jan- 
uary 7,  1892,  gave  the  following  exhibit  of  Negroes 
murdered  by  mobs: 


1882. 
1883. 
1884. 
1885. 
1886. 


52 

1887 

39 

1888 

53 

1889 

77 

1890 

73 

1891 

70 

72 

95 
100 
169 


Morals. 


227 


Thoughtful  men  arc  now  tabulating  the  cases  of 
brutality — in  less  than  six  years  exceeding  one  thou- 
sand, in  three  States  one  hundred  and  over  in  each. 

Lynchings  in  the  United  States*  (1888  to  1893). 


Alabama 

Arkansas 

California 

Coloiado 

Connecticut 

Delaware 

Florida 

Georgia 

Idaho 

Illinois 

Indiana 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts  .  . . 

Michigan 

Minnesota 

Mississippi 

Missouri 

Montana 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

New  Hampshire. 


New  Jersey 

New  York 

North  Carolina  . . . . 

North  Dakota 

Ohio 

Oregon 

Pennsylvania 

Rhode  Island 

South  Carolina 

South  Dakota 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Vermont 

Virginia 

Washington 

West  Virginia 

Wisconsin 

Wyoming 

Arizona 

District  of  Columbia 
Indian  Territory.  . . 

New  Mexico 

Oklahoma  Territory 
Utah 

Total 


I 

26 
2 
5 
5 
I 

37 

9 

80 


40 
5 

17 
3 

26 


20 
10 

5 


1.045 


These  are  statistics  which  chill  the  blood,  and 
cause  us  to  stand  still  and  meditate,  though  a 
Southern  writer,  in  a  magazine,  obtusely  said : 

Nowadays,  it  seems,  the  killing  of  Negroes  is  not  so  extraor- 
dinary an  occurrence  as  to  need  explanation.  It  has  become 
so  common  that  it  no  longer  surprises  us.  We  read  of  such 
things,  as  we  read  of  the  fires  that  burned  a  cabin  or  a  town. 


From  the  "Christian  Educator,"  January,  1S94. 


228      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Almost  all  the  lynchings  are  the  murder  of  Ne- 
groes by  white  men ;  and,  running  the  eye  through 
the  table,  we  see  where  the  murders  occurred.  None 
were  in  the  New  England  States,  or  in  New  Jersey, 
or  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  or  in  Utah  ;  only 
one  in  Iowa,  two  in  Minnesota,  one  in  New  York, 
one  in  Pennsylvania,  and  two  in  North  Dakota. 
In  the  mining  and  frontier  States  and  Territories 
there  is  much  lawlessness.  With  all  the  immigra- 
tion into  the  North,  only  sporadic  instances  of  this 
kind  are  found.  In  the  old  slave  States,  and  the 
States  bordering  upon  them,  the  major  part  have 
occurred. 

Some  one  has  summed  up  the  murders  of  Negroes 
by  mobs,  in  ten  years,  as  follows : 

Charged  with  rape 269 

"  "      murder 253 

"  "      robbery 44 

"  "      incendiarism...., 37 

'*  "      burglary 14 

"  "      race  prejudice 27 

"  "      quarreling  with  white  men 13 

"  "      making  threats 10 

"  "      rioting 7 

"  "      miscegenation 5 

*'  "      no  reasons  given 32 

Total 701 

One  prominent  Southern  gentleman  of  high 
character  explained  these  lynchings  as  "  emotional 
insanity,"  but  a  Kentucky  gentleman  called  it 
"  premeditated  insanity,"  and  Senator  Morgan,  of 


Morals.  229 

Alabama,  said,  it  is  the  old  case  of  "an  inferior 
race  crushed  by  a  superior  race."  Bishop  Hayijood 
said,  "  Under  the  conditions  of  Southern  life,  it  was 
inevitable  that  these  crimes  should  be  met  by 
violent  punishment,  without  law." 

For  a  verdict  we  refer  the  question  to  the  jury  of 
the  wise,  discriminating  Christian  public. 

The  souls  around  Christian  altars  cry  out,  "  How 
long,  O  Lord,  how  long,"  before  the  barbarism  en- 
gendered by  slavery  will  pass  away.  Considered 
widely  as  a  question  of  progress  in  morals,  these 
cases  of  brutal  treatment  of  Negroes  should  be  com- 
pared with  what  they  suffered  under  the  old  slave 
regime.  Thus  viewed,  has  not  the  total  of  bar- 
barism been  considerably  diminished  ?  Thank  God, 
the  institution  of  slavery,  a  prolific  source  of  de- 
moralization, is  dead— one  of  the  great  moral  tri- 
umphs of  the  nineteenth  century.  In  due  time, 
doubtless,  under  the  widening  and  deepening  sway 
of  humane  sentiments,  the  reign  of  barbarism  will 
come  to  an  end,  but  at  present,  says  Hon.W.  E. 
Chandler,*  "  the  constitutional  and  natural  rights 
of  the  Negroes  are  in  danger  of  utter  extinction, 
and  the  race  must  fight  or  it  will  relapse  into  a 
state  worse  than  slaver>^ — theoretical  rights  of  man- 
hood and  citizenship  without  any  attempt  to  exer- 
cise them.  What  lower  state  of  mental  and  moral 
degradation  can  be  imagined  !  " 

*  Letter  to  the  colored  men  of  Boston,  Mass.,  September  i,  1894. 


230      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Chastity  and  Divorce. 

The  French  infidelity,  so  prevalent  in  America  at 
the  close  of  the  last  and  the  beginning  of  the  pres- 
ent century,  exerted  a  baleful  influence  upon  social 
and  domestic  relations.  Numerous  facts  might  be 
cited,  if  the  details  were  not  so  indelicate,  showing 
the  prevalence  of  the  grossest  licentiousness,  in 
large  sections  of  the  country,  and  of  unchastity,  in 
slightly  milder  forms,  in  even  the  better  communi- 
ties. Shocking  examples  of  indiscriminate  sexual 
relations  between  parents  and  children,  continuing 
for  years  without  civil  interference,  not  in  the  fes- 
tering centers  of  the  population,  but  in  the  sparser 
communities,  might  be  cited,  on  the  authority  of 
regularly  drawn  and  duly  attested  affidavits.  Data 
now  exist  showing  that  rural  towns  in  Massachu- 
setts and  Connecticut,  of  more  than  average  thrift, 
rank,  and  intelligence,  favored  with  the  ministra- 
tions of  some  of  the  most  eminent  and  faithful  di- 
vines, were  not  exempt  from  this  evil,  that  enforced 
marriages  were  frequent,  and  that  the  Churches, 
much  more  frequently  than  in  our  days,  were  under 
the  necessity  of  administering  discipline  for  crimes 
against  chastity. 

In  large  sections  of  the  land  newly  settled,  and 
either  without  Churches,  ministers,  and  magistrates, 
or  only  scantily  supplied,  there  was  little  or  no  civil 
or  ecclesiastical  recognition  of  matrimony,  and  men 


Morals,  23 1 

and  women  assumed  family  relations  without  mar- 
riage forms.  These  cases  were  very  numerous. 
Some  of  our  most  eminent  civilians  were  the  fruits 
of  the  low  habits  prevailing  in  the  beginning  of  this 
century. 

In  the  older  portions  of  the  land  "  runaways  " 
from  matrimonial  relations  were  frequent.  The 
stringency  of  the  divorce  laws  gave  little  hope  of 
relief  from  unhappy  unions.  The  comparative  se- 
clusion of  local  communities,  then  not  penetrated 
by  railroads  and  telegraphs,  and  unvisited  by  ubiq- 
uitous reporters,  gave  abundant  opportunity  for 
concealment  and  remarriage,  even  though  removed 
but  a  short  distance  from  a  former  residence.  The 
newspapers  of  that  time  abounded  in  advertise- 
ments of  "  runaway  wives."  A  gentleman  writing 
in  181 5  said  :  "  I  cut  out  of  all  the  newspapers  we 
received  the  advertisements  of  all  the  '  runaway 
wives,'  and  pasted  them  on  a  slip  of  paper,  close 
under  each  other.  At  the  end  of  a  month  the  slip 
reached  from  the  ceiling  to  the  floor  of  a  room  more 
than  ten  feet  high,  and  contained  one  hundred  and 
twenty-three  advertisements.  We  did  not  receive, 
at  most,  more  than  one-twentieth  part  of  all  the 
newspapers  in  the  United  States."  Many,  it  is  to 
be  presumed,  were  not  advertised,  and  we  have  no 
statistics  of  the  runaway  husbands. 

About     1824-1826    Robert    Owen     and    Fanny 
Wright  nearly  simultaneously  commenced  their  rad- 


232       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

ical  socialistic  efforts,  lecturing  in  all  parts  of  the 
country,  and  inculcating  the  most  disorganizing 
theories.  It  was  a  national  excitement  somewhat 
like  that  of  a  religious  revival  or  a  political  cam- 
paign. The  movement  organized  eleven  commu- 
nistic societies  within  a  few  years,  and  scattered 
broadcast  sentiments  unfavorable  to  the  dignity  and 
permanence  of  the  marriage  relation. 

More  recently,  chiefly  during  the  last  forty  years, 
a  series  of  legislative  acts,  in  numerous  States,  have 
removed  the  stringent  restrictions  upon  divorce, 
and  the  separations  of  husbands  and  wives  have 
become  so  numerous  as  to  awaken  much  concern. 

"  Beginning  with  Connecticut,  we  find  Benjamin 
Trumbull,  in  1785,  mourning  that  439  divorces  had 
taken  place  in  Connecticut  within  a  century,  and 
that  all  but  50  had  occurred  in  the  last  50  years. 
About  twenty  years  later,  when  the  corrupt  influ- 
ence of  French  infidelity  had  reached  its  height, 
President  Dwight  was  alarmed  that  there  was  one 
divorce  to  every  hundred  marriages.  The  evil,  how- 
ever, seems  nearly  checked  in  increase  until  1843, 
when  '  habitual  intemperance  '  and  '  intolerable  cru- 
elty '  were  added  to  the  two  existing  causes  for  di- 
vorce. Even  then  the  increase  was  small.  But  in 
1849  several  causes  were  added,  including  the  no- 
torious '  omnibus  clause,'  making  7iine  in  all,  and 
jurisdiction  was  taken  from  the  Legislature  and 
given  to  the  courts.     That  year  divorces  numbered 


Morals.  233 

94;  the  next  year,  129;  and  in  1864,426.  Then 
for  15  years  they  averaged  446  annually,  varying 
less  from  year  to  year  than  the  reported  births 
or  marriages,  or  deaths.  During  this  period  the  ra- 
tio of  divorces  to  marriages  was  i  to  10.4.  The  re- 
peal of  the  '  omnibus  clause,'  in  1878,  reduced  the 
divorces  of  the  next  year  to  316.  Another  slight 
change  in  the  law  for  the  better  was  secured  a  year 
ago. 

"  Vermont  grants  divorces  for  six  causes.  There 
were  94  divorces  granted  in  i860,  and  from  the  close 
of  the  war  they  increased  to  197  in  1878,  with  the 
ratio  to  marriages  of  i  to  14.  That  year  an  amend- 
ment to  the  laws  resulted  in  a  reduction  of  divorces 
in  the  year  following  to  126. 

"Rhode  Island  grants  about  180  annually,  and 
her  ratio  is  i  to  13. 

"  New  Hampshire  prints  no  statistics  either  of 
divorce  or  marriage,  but  it  has  been  found  that 
there  were  159  divorces  in  the  entire  State  in  1870  ; 
240  in  1875,  and  241  in  1878.  Three  counties,  that 
had  only  18  in  1840  and  21  in  1850,  granted  40  in 
i860,  and  96  in  1878.  There  are  fourteen  causes 
for  divorce,  but  no  more  inclusive,  probably,  than 
those  of  most  other  States. 

"  I  do  not  know  that  the  divorces  of  Maine  have 
ever  been  reported.  I  have  secured  an  examination 
of  the  county  records  in  that  State  giving  the  di- 
vorces of  the  16  counties  of  the  State  for  the  year 


234      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

1878.  In  these  16  counties  there  were  478  divorces 
in  that  year.  It  is  also  found  that  in  the  five  coun- 
ties giving  the  number  for  1880,  there  was  an  in- 
crease of  more  than  one  third  in  the  latter  year, 
from  166  to  223.  Penobscot  County  granted  84 
divorces  last  year. 

"  And  now  take  Massachusetts,  which  I  have  re- 
served to  the  last,  because  she  is  the  heart  of  New 
England,  and  for  the  facilities  she  affords  for  study- 
ing this  whole  problem.  This  State,  following 
closely  English  law,  granted  divorce  for  only  two 
causes  until  i860.  That  year  there  were  243  di- 
vorces, or  I  to  51  marriages.  Then,  by  a  series  of 
acts  passed,  chiefly  in  i860,  'd"],  '73,  and  'yj,  the 
causes  for  absolute  divorce  became  nine,  copying  a 
Connecticut  vice  just  as  Connecticut  began  to  for- 
sake it.  In  1866  there  were  392  divorces  ;  in  1870, 
449;  and  in  1878,  600.  The  ratio  to  marriages,  i 
to  51  in  i860,  became  i  to  21.4  in  1878.  It  is 
probable  that  in  Massachusetts  the  increase  still 
goes  on. 

"  If  now  we  sum  up  for  New  England,  there  were 
in  the  year  of  grace  1878  in  Maine  478  divorces  ;  in 
New  Hampshire,  241  ;  in  Vermont,  197  ;  in  Massa- 
chusetts, 600;  in  Connecticut,  401  ;  and  in  Rhode 
Island,  196;  making  a  total  of  2,113,  and  a  larger 
ratio  in  proportion  to  the  population  than  in  France 
in  the  days  of  the  Revolution.  In  France  the  ratio 
of  separation  to  marriages,  latterly,  is  about  i  to  1 50 ; 


Morals.  235 

in  Belgium,  of  divorce  to  marriages,  i  to  270,  with 
a  few  separations ;  and  in  England,  of  petitions  for 
both  divorce  and  separation,  i  to  300.  On  the  ba- 
sis of  population  by  the  present  census  there  was 
one  divorce  to  every  1357  inhabitants  in  Maine; 
one  to  about  820  in  Penobscot  County,  the  seat  of 
a  theological  seminary;  one  to  every  1,443  ^^i  New 
Hampshire;  one  to  every  1,687  ^^  Vermont;  one 
to  every  2,973  in  Massachusetts  ;  one  to  every  1,553 
in  Connecticut  ;  and  one  to  every  1,411  in  Rhode 
Island.  But  no  State  is  likely  to  have  a  larger  di- 
vorce rate  than  Massachusetts,  unless  the  laws  and 
discussion  speedily  check  the  evil. 

"  But  the  Catholic  marriages  are,  in  four  States, 
27  per  cent,  of  the  whole.  Assuming  what  is  very 
nearly  true,  that  there  are  no  divorces  among  these, 
the  ratio  of  divorces  to  marriages  among  Protest- 
ants is  I  to  1 1.7  for  the  four  States  together  ;  it  be- 
ing I  to  15  in  Massachusetts,  i  to  13  in  Vermont, 
I  to  9  in  Rhode  Island,  and  i  in  less  than  8  in 
Connecticut. 

"  But  what  of  divorce  in  the  West  ?  Has  not 
this  practice,  in  going  West  with  the  New  En- 
glander,  run  into  greater  extremes  ?  Few  States, 
if  any,  west  of  Ohio,  collect  statistics  of  divorce.  In 
Ohio  the  ratio  for  many  years  averaged  i  to  25, 
and  now  it  is  about  i  to  18.  Indiana  has  changed 
her  laws  for  the  better,  while  Illinois  has,  it  is 
said,  adopted  bettor  forms  of  procedure.  No 
16 


236      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

city  has  had  a  worse  reputation  in  divorce  than 
Chicago.  Yet  the  records  of  Cook  County,  with  a 
population  of  about  600,000,  for  the  five  years, 
1875-79,  show  a  ratio  of  divorce  suits  begun  to 
marriage  lice?ises  taken  out  of  i  to  9.4.  But  for  the 
year  1875  it  was  found  that  one  fifth  of  the  peti- 
tions heard  were  denied.  Making  this  allowance — 
and  the  more  strict  practice  of  later  years  fully  jus- 
tified it — the  ratio  beconries  i  to  12.  Chicago  is  not 
as  bad  as  Hartford  or  New  Haven."  * 

The  last  report  f  of  Hon.  Carroll  D.  Wright,  Chief 
of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor  in  Massachu- 
setts, contains  a  very  succinct  resume  of  the  legisla- 
tion of  that  State  in  reference  to  divorce,  since 
1780.  The  divorce  law  of  1786  recognized  only 
two  causes  for  divorce — adultery  and  impotency. 
Seven  other  causes  have  since  been  added — sentence 
to  imprisonment  at  hard  labor  for  five  years  or  more, 
desertion  for  three  consecutive  years,  separation  with- 
out consent,  refusal  to  cohabit  and  union  for  three 
years  with  a  religious  sect  or  society  holding  the 
relation  of  husband  and  wife  unlawful,  extreme 
cruelty,  gross  and  confirmed  habits  of  intoxication, 
abusive  treatmert  and  neglect  to  provide.  Under 
these  general  causes  there   have   been    other  sub- 

=•  Monday  Lecture  delivered  by  Rev.  Samuel  W.  Dike,  of  Royal- 
ton,  Vt.,  in  Tremont  Temple,  Boston,  Mass.,  January  24,  1881,  and 
published  in  full  in  the  "  Boston  Traveler,"  January  25,  1881.  Mr. 
Dike  is  a  high  authority  in  the  matter  of  divorce  statistics. 

f  January  7,  1880,  pp.  199-235. 


Morals.  237 

causes  or  specifications,  for  which  complete  or  par- 
tial separations  have  been  granted.  The  statistics 
in  this  volume,  gathered  from  the  records  of  the 
Massachusetts  courts,  covering  a  period  of  nineteen 
years,  (1860-79,)  show  forty- four  causes  or  speci- 
fications in  which  the  courts  have  granted  7,233  di- 
vorces, of  which  the  following  is  a  condensed  sum- 
mary, under  eight  general  heads  : 


Desertion  .    3,013 

Adultery 2,949 

Intoxication 452 

Extreme  cruelty 375 


Cruel  and  abusive  treatment  223 

Neglect  to  provide 154 

Imprisonment 50 

Impotency 17 


"  It  will  be  observed,"  says  Mr.  Wright,  "  that 
but  3,016  of  these  7,233  divorces  were  granted  for 
causes  that  would  have  been  valid  even  so  late  as 
half  a  century  ago.  '  Desertion  '  was  not  admit- 
ted as  a  cause  for  divorce  at  all  until  1838,  and  not 
until  after  the  passage  of  the  law  of  1857  could  it 
be  used  to  any  considerable  extent.  '  Intoxica- 
tion' and  'cruel  and  abusive  treatment'  came  in 
with  the  revision  of  the  laws  of  i860.  Extreme 
cruelty  '  and  '  neglect  to  provide  *  did  not  until 
1857  become  causes  for  which  decrees  of  full  divorce 
could  be  entered.  Practically,  therefore,  more  than 
half  of  the  whole  number  of  divorces  to  which  our 
tables  refer  were  granted  for  causes  that  have  come 
into  legal  existence  within  twenty-five  years.  .  .  . 

*'  Of  1,169  divorces  granted  to  wives  in  the  whole 
period,  on  account  of  '  intoxication,'  '  extreme  cru- 


238      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

elty,'  '  cruel  and  abusive  treatment,'  and  '  neglect 
to  provide,'  985,  or  more  than  84  per  cent.,  were 
decreed  within  the  last  half  dozen  years.  It  would 
hardly  do  to  assume  that  husbands  have  given  so 
much  greater  cause  of  late  than  ever  before  for 
complaint  in  the  directions  indicated  by  these  sev- 
eral legal  specifications.  The  explanation  lies  in 
the  fact  that  certain  material  modifications  of  law 
took  place  in  1870  and  1873." 

Simultaneously  with  this  increase  of  divorces  there 
has  been  another  serious  fact,  the  decrease  of  the 
number  of  marriages.  In  Massachusetts,  in  19 
years,  the  average  ratio  was  i  divorce  to  about  36 
marriages  ;  during  the  past  3  years,  it  was  I  to  23 
marriages ;  in  Vermont,  in  7  years,  there  were  730 
divorces  to  15,710  marriages,  or  i  to  21;  in 
Ohio,  in  1866,  1,169  divorces  to  30,479  marriages, 
or  I  to  27  ;  in  Connecticut,  in  8  years,  2,910  di- 
vorces to  33,227  marriages,  or  i  to  ii  ;  in  Rhode 
Island,   I   to   14. 

This  subject  is  one  of  great  importance,  but,  until 
within  a  very  few  years,  satisfactory  statistical  data 
from  which  to  draw  conclusions  has  been  wanting. 
Hon.  Carroll  D.  Wright,  Commissioner  of  Labor, 
at  Washington,  D.  C,  has  thoroughly  investigated 
the  subject,  and  issued  a  voluminous  report  of  great 
research  and  value,  (1889,)  to  which  I  refer  those  de- 
siring to  study  this  subject  more  extendedly.  In 
the  appendix  of  this  volume  will  be  found  a  table 


x>i.A.a-ie.A.aiva:   xi. 

Illustrating  iHE  Increase  of  Divorces  in  'ihe  United 
States  in  Twenty  Years,  (1867-1886.) 

(See  pp.  238-241.) 

In  1867 9.737  divorces. 

"  1870 10,962 

"   1880 19,663 

"  1886 25,535 

Total  in  20  years  in  United 
States,  328,716. 

Increase  in  States. 
Texas,  from  91  to  1,326. 
Ohio,  from  901  to  1,889. 
New  Jersey,  from  60  to  286. 
Nebraska,  from  10  to  436. 
Mississippi,  from  40  to  504. 


See  full  table  (XX) 
in  Appendix. 


Morals.  239 

(p.  710)  which  will  help  those  unable  to  obtain  Mr. 
Wright's  volume.  It  gives  the  number  of  divorces 
in  each  State  for  1867,  1870,  1880,  and  1886,  and  the 
total  divorces  for  twenty  years.  No  statistics  of 
divorce  are  given  in  the  United  States  Census  for 
1890. 

In  1867,  9,937  divorces  were  granted  in  the  United  States. 
In  1886,  25,535 

Increase,  in  twenty  years,  157  per  cent.,  divorces. 
"  "  "        60         "         population. 

Some  States  hold  the  unenviable  distinction  of 
having  far  outrun  others  in  granting  divorces. 

Population  Total  divorces 

in  1880.  from  1867  to  1886. 

New  York 5,082,871  15,355 

Illinois 3,077,871  36,072 

Wisconsin 1,315,497  9,988 

Michigan 1,636,937  18,433 

Iowa 1,624,615  16,564 

California 864,694  12,118 

Michigan  and  Iowa  with  one  third  the  popula- 
tion of  New  York  had  from  1,209  to  3,078  more  di- 
vorces respectively,  and  Illinois,  with  three  fifths  of 
the  population  of  New  York,  had  nearly  two  and  a 
half  times  as  many  divorces. 

Presuming  that  the  reader  will  be  interested  to 
examine  his  particular  locality,  I  give  another  table, 
from  the  same  source  : 


240      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Per  Cent,  of  Increase  from  1870  to  1880  in  Population  and 
Divorces. 

[In  cases  where  the  minus  sign  is  prefixed  the  figures  represent  a  decrease.] 


States  and 
Territories. 

c 
_o 

B 

"3 
a. 
0 
f4 

0 

> 

s 

States  and 
Territories. 

.2 

"3 
a 

0 

i 

> 

Alabama 

26.6 

318.7 

65.6 

54-3 
387-4 
15.8 
853-2 
17.2 
34-8 
43-5 
30.2 

117. 4 
21. 1 

17.7 
36.0 
'73-3 
24.8 
29-3 
3-5 
19.7 
22.3 
38.2 

77-5 
36.6 

25-9 

163.2 

2,200.0 

310.6 

129.2 

733-3 

— i6.o 

(1) 

400.0 
69.2 

161. 4 

114  4 

155-6 
81.6 
21.6 
75-6 

179-7 
S4-I 

263.3 
68.1 
52.4 
47-3 

107.4 

174-7 
404.7 
89.4 

go.i 

171-4 
560.0 
128.6 
116. 0 

Si-7 
700.0 

14. 1 
104.9 

56.6 
171. 9 

52.6 

35-6 

Nevada 46.5 

New  Hampshire. .        9.0 

New  Jersey 24.8 

New  Mexico 30.1 

New  York 15.9 

California 

Connecticut 

Dakota 

District  of  Columbia 

Ohio 

19.9 

Q2.2 
21.6 
27.2 
41.0 
22.5 

94-4 

65.8 

0-5 
23-4 

213-5 
39-9 
24.7 

127.9 

Florida 

Georgia 

Idaho 

Pennsylvania 

Rhode  Island  .... 
South  Carolina. . . 
Tennessee 

Illinois 

Indiana 

139-4 
382.2 

40.2 

— iS-9 

164-5 

333-3 

50.0 

35-1 
61.5 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Utah  . 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Washington 

West  Virginia. . . . 

Wisconsin 

Wyoming 

The  United  States 

Maryland. . . . 

Ma.ssachusetts 

Michigan 

Mississippi..   .    . 

30.1              79.4 

Missouri 

a  There  were  no  divorces  in  Dakota  in  1870,  and  none  in  South  Carolina  in 
880 ;  hence  the  percentages  cannot  be  computed. 


The  table  shows  that  while  the  population  of  the 
United  States  increased  30,1  per  cent,  the  divorces 
increased  79.4  per  cent.  Connecticut  and  Vermont 
decreased  relatively.  In  Indiana  divorces  slightly- 
increased  upon  the  population,  likewise  in  Kansas, 
while  in  New  York  the  population  increased  15.9 
per  cent.,  and  the  divorces  only  14.  i. 

It  is  also  desirable  to  know  how  the  "  movement 
of  divorce  "  in  the  United  States  compares  with  that 


Morals. 


241 


in   European   countries.      Another  table   from   the 
same  source  will  show  this  tendency  abroad : 


Divorces,  1867  to  1886,  in  Certain  Countries  of  Europe. 


CoiNTRIES. 


1867. 


1870. 


Austria 

Hungary 

Belgium 

Canada 

Denmark 

England  and  Wales. . 

Scotland 

Ireland 

France 

German  Empire.  .... 
Alsace-Lorraine  .  . 

Baden 

Bavaria 

Hamburg 

Hesse 

PiTissia 

Saxony 

Wurtemberg 

Italy 

Netherlands,  The . . . 

Norway 

Roumania 

Russia : 

Evangelical  Augsburg 
"  Reformed 

Greek  Catholics 

Finland 

Poland 

Sweden  

Switzerland 


130 


130 
32 

2,181 


19 

270 

"*28 

396 
94 

133 


147 

7 
8q2 


163 
128 


1875. 


128 
3 

176 
42 

1,863 


35 
308 

"'28 

493 

97 

554 

156 

33 


130] 

4 

735 

195 
126 


1885. 


192 

5 

521 

192 

43 

I 

2,292 

55 

70 

229 

44 

611 
149 

'186 

19 

323 

166 

3 
1,005 

55 
215 
181 


1,267 
295 1 

5; 
613 
336 

80 

2,624 

"'82 
56 


745 

973 

290 

12 

429 

74 

5 

6,246 

6,161 

138 

100 


245 


145 

225 

33 

75 

3,902 

981 

144 

615 

556 

226 

339 

30 

432 



159 

186 

7 

6 

920 

1,106 

19 

63 

329 

338 

217 

229 

856 

920 

700 

862 

354 
II 

372 
96 

7 
6. 211 
6,078 
117 
143 
238 
287 

53 

3,808 

917 

161 

418 


62 

345 
226 


For  the  years  left  blank  no  statement  was  ob- 
tainable. The  foregoing  countries  grant  both  ab- 
solute and  limited  divorces,  and  the  figures  are 
supposed  to  give  both,  except  Austria,  Hungary, 
Belgium,  Canada,  (only  absolute  divorces,)  Denmark, 


242      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

France,  (limited  for  the  whole  period,  and  absolute 
only  for  1880,  1885  and  1886.)  In  England,  Wales, 
and  Scotland,  only  absolute  divorces  are  reckoned 
in  the  table.  Similar  peculiarities  exist  in  many 
countries. 

The  tables  should  be  studied  discriminatingly, 
with  reference  to  existing  laws,  in  order  to  see  how 
far  the  statistics  throw  light  on  the  moral  tone  of 
society.  Many  subtle  and  underlying  causes  affect 
divorces  in  Europe — even  more  complex  than  in 
this  country,  where  much  discrimination  is  neces- 
sary in  making  up  a  judgment  in  respect  to  the 
moral  status.  It  is  impossible  within  the  limits  of 
this  volume  to  follow  out  this  investigation  in  all 
its  phases ;  but  it  seems  clear  that  a  great  social 
movement,  in  both  this  country  and  in  Europe,  has 
taken  place  contemporaneously,  in  the  direction  of 
increased  divorces. 

Several  considerations  claim  attention — 

1.  The  increase  of  divorces  during  the  past  forty 
years  is  an  ominous  symptom ;  and,  in  even  the 
most  liberal  view  of  the  question,  can  but  awaken 
concern  for  the  permanence  of  social  order  and  the 
stability  of  public  virtue. 

2.  The  comparison  of  the  number  of  divorces  with 
the  number  of  marriages  annually  is  not  satisfac- 
tory ;  for  the  number  of  marriages  varies  with  the 
prosperity  of  the  country  and  other  causes.     The 


Morals.  243 

financial  embarrassments  following  1873  have  di- 
minished the  number  of  the  marriages,  while  they 
have  not  reduced  the  number  of  the  divorces;  and 
the  larger  facilities  for  obtaining  divorces,  granted 
in  1870  and  1873,  is  another  cause  not  to  be  over- 
looked in  such  an  investigation. 

3.  Loose  legislation  in  regard  to  the  matrimonial 
relation  is  an  evidence  of  a  change  in  the  type  of 
morals  and  a  modification  of  the  moral  standard. 

4.  Some  divorces,  now  granted,  are  for  causes 
which  do  not  imply  serious  immorality,  or  for  im- 
moralities not  new,  and  probably  not  so  numerous 
or  so  serious  as  in  former  times.  Hence,  the  mere 
fact  of  an  increase  of  divorces  does  not  imply  an  in- 
crease of  wickedness. 

5.  The  divorces  in  our  days,  morally  considered, 
count  against  the  runaways  from  matrimony  and 
the  illegalized  assumptions  of  marriage  relations, 
quite  extensive  under  the  deleterious  influences 
of  French  infidelity,  less  than  one  hundred  years 
ago.  The  elopements  and  runaways  now  arc  few 
in  comparison  with  those  of  that  period,  less  even 
than  twenty-five  years  ago.  Now,  combining  the 
runaways  and  divorces,  we  find  no  such  condition 
of  things  as  existed  when  one  twentieth  part  of 
the  newspapers,  in  a  single  month,  contained  one 
hundred  and  twenty-three  advertisements  of  runa- 
way wives. 

We  have  only  to  go  back  a  few  centuries  to  find 


244      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

the  family  a  very  different  thing  from  what  it  is  to- 
day, with  all  the  present  evils.  Out  of  what  low 
conditions,  before  the  Reformation,  has  it  gradually 
risen  into  the  dignity  and  purity  with  which  we  find 
it  invested  !  It  is  not  long  since  wives  were  exposed 
for  sale  in  England.*  A  gentleman  in  this  country 
in  1815,  having  access  to  not  a  very  large  number 
of  English  sources  of  information,  found  in  a  single 
year  thirty-nine  instances  of  wives  exposed  to  public 
sale,  like  cattle  at  Smithfield.  In  hotly  contested 
elections,  in  places  where  a  freeman's  daughter  con- 
ferred the  right  to  vote  by  marriage,f  it  was  common 
for  the  same  woman  to  marry  several  men.  The 
ceremony  over,  the  parties  went  into  the  church- 
yard, shook  hands  over  an  open  grave,  saying,  "  now 
death  do  us  part,"  and  away  went  the  man  to  vote 
with  his  new  qualification,  and  the  woman  to  quali- 
fy another  husband  at  another  church. 

How  have  laws  and  customs  pertaining  to  mar- 

*  The  following  is  an  extract  from  an  English  publication  :  "  Shrop- 
shire.— The  town  of  Ludlow  lately  witnessed  one  of  those  scenes  to 
■which  custom  has  attached  the  character  of  lawful  transactions  in 
the  minds  of  the  lower  classes.  A  well-looking  woman,  wife  of  John 
Hall,  to  whom  she  had  been  married  only  one  month,  was  brought 
by  him  in  a  halter,  and  sold  by  auction  in  the  market  for  two  and 
sixpence,  with  the  addition  of  sixpence  for  the  rope  with  which  she 
was  led.  In  this  sale  the  customary  market  fees  were  charged — 
toll,  one  penny;  pitching,  three  pence." — New  Monthly  Magazine. 
for  Sept.,  1 8 14. 

\  The  qualifications  for  voting  differed  at  different  places.  Bristol 
England,  is  here  referred  to.     See  "  Espriella,"  by  Southey. 


Morals.  245 

riage  been  purified  and  improved!  how  much  lionor 
and  influence  is  now  accorded  to  woman  !  how  has 
the  sacredness  and  sweetness  of  home-life  been  de- 
veloped throughout  Christendom  !  This  home  sanc- 
tuary still  has  its  evils,  but  less  numerous  and  in 
veterate  than  those  which  cursed  the  family  before 
Protestantism  arose. 

Numerous  socialistic  communities,  organized  in 
this  country  on  an  antimarriage  basis,  have  nearly 
all  disappeared  ;  and  those  remaining  have  aban- 
doned the  system  of  promiscuous  sexual  relations. 
The  recent  change  in  the  Oneida  Community  has 
received  much  attention,  and  is  clearly  the  effect 
of  the  advancing  moral  sentiment  of  the  nation. 

Impure  Literature. 

The  immorality  of  much  of  our  current  literature 
and  its  pernicious  influence,  deserves  more  atten- 
tion than  we  can  give  it  in  the  present  limits.  The 
number  of  trashy  and  sensational  papers  published 
in  New  York  city  alone  has  been  stated  *  to  be 
twenty-five,  with  an  aggregate  circulation  of  three 
hundred  and  thirty-six  thousand  copies  weekly. 
Add  to  this  vast  number  a  reasonable  estimate  of 
the  circulation  of  other  papers  of  the  same  class,  in 
other  cities,  and  multiply  the  total  by  the  average 
number  of  readers,  say  three  or  five  to  each  copy 
of  a  paper,  and  we  have  an  audience  of  several  mill- 

*  "National  Quarterly  Review,"  July,  1879. 


246      Problem  of  R?:ltgious  Progress. 

ions,  chiefly  boys  and  girls,  young  men  and  young 
women,  to  whom  these  papers  minister  intellectual 
food — with  many,  their  only  nutriment.  These  pa- 
pers have  been  classified  as  bad,  worse,  worst. 

"  The  first  class  do  not  contain  that  which  is  ob- 
scene or  profane  to  any  considerable  extent,  but  are 
full  of  highly  sensational  stories.  The  titles  of  some 
of  them,  selected  at  random,  indicate  their  char- 
acter: '  Dashing  Dolores,  or  Chincapin  Dick  on  the 
Border,'  *  Spider  and  Stump,  the  Plagues  of  the 
Village,'  '  The  Boy  Pedestrian,  or,  Walking  for  a 
Life,*  etc.  The  staple  characteristic  of  these  stories 
is  the  narrative  of  adventures.  There  is  no  real 
portrayal  of  character,  no  picturesque  description, 
no  pure  sentiment  —  nothing  but  the  recital  of 
thrilling,  blood-curdling  adventure  after  adventure. 
Other  stories  in  these  papers  recite  in  appropriate 
slang  the  tricks  and  practical  jokes  played  by  dar- 
ing youngsters  upon  their  parents  and  guardians. 
The  distinction  between  the  two  lower  classes  of 
papers  is  a  question  simply  of  more  or  less.  They 
have  sensational  stories,  dealing  largely  with  the 
relations  of  the  sexes,  together  with  illustrations  of 
current  events  of  a  sensational  character,  portraits 
of  burglars,  murderers,  and  other  criminals,  and 
pictures  of  crime.  In  their  reports  of  crime,  espe- 
cially those  against  purity,  they  enter  into  the  min- 
utest details,  and  they  are  spiced  not  infrequently 
with  accounts  of  the  doings  in  saloons  and  dance- 


Morals,  247 

halls.  The  effect  upon  the  reader,  the  *  Review  * 
writer  observes,  is  as  if  he  were  put  into  constant 
companionship  with  criminals.  Crime  is  not  only 
made  familiar  to  him,  it  is  glorified,  and  his  imag- 
ination is  stimulated  until  he  is  ready  to  imitate  the 
adventures  which  have  been  painted  for  him  in  such 
brilliant  colors."  * 

The  fruits  of  such  reading  were  justly  described 
by  the  writer  already  referred  to : 

"The  completed  product,  then,  brought  forth  as 
the  result  of  these  publications,  is  a  foul-mouthed 
bully,  a  cheat,  a  thief,  a  desperado,  a  libertine. 
Instead  of  a  clean-minded,  high-toned,  honorable 
young  man,  not  afraid  of  work,  and  knowing  that 
whatever  is  of  value  in  this  world  is  gained  by 
work — a  young  man  of  courage,  in  which  the  moral 
element  is  greater  than  the  physical,  a  young  man 
respecting  the  law  and  other  men's  rights,  a  young 
man  worthy  of  the  love  of  a  good  woman — we  should 
have  one  who,  when  the  fictitious  gloss,  the  stage- 
tinsel,  the  mock-heroic  glamor,  had  been  rubbed  off, 
would  be  found  preferring  to  live  by  his  wits  rather 
than  his  labor ;  rotten  at  heart,  and  hence  foul  in 
speech ;  as  likely  as  not  a  betrayer  of  innocence ;  a 
pest  and  a  plague  in  society."  f 

It  is  seriously  feared  that  our  public  libraries 
foster  rather  than  restrain  the  cravings  for  the  sen- 

*  Editorial  in  "  Boston  Journal,"  Aug.  2,  1879. 
f  "National  Quarterly  Review  "  July,  1879. 


248       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

sational  thus  awakened.  "  The  gravity  of  this  ques- 
tion was  confessed  in  a  recent  congress  of  h'brarians, 
and  the  ratio  of  sensational  fiction  in  the  various 
Hbraries,  (in  some  Sunday-school  libraries,)  is  ad- 
mitted to  be  ominously  large,  in  spite  of  all  that 
has  been  done  to  diminish  it.  The  nature  of  the 
difficulty  is  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  the  Hartford 
librarian  recently  reported  that  one  boy  had  taken 
out  one  hundred  and  two  story  books  in  six  months, 
and  one  girl  one  hundred  and  twelve  novels  in  the 
same  time." 

This  is  a  great  and  subtle  evil.  A  New  York 
judge,  recently  interviewed,  traced  a  great  deal  of 
the  current  crime  to  the  influence  of  the  flashy  and 
sensational  story  papers.  But,  besides,  there  are 
the  dime  novels,  cheap  song  books,  ct  id  ontne genius ^ 
turned  out  by  the  ton,  and  equally  unhealthy  to 
morals.  Nor  should  we  fail  to  specify  the  perni- 
ciously illustrated  weeklies. 

While  fully  accepting  these  facts,  and  in  no  sense 
depreciating  their  importance,  we  must  not  forget 
that  the  Christian  public  are  fully  aroused  to  resist 
this  evil.  It  is  being  assailed  by  the  pulpit,  the 
press,  the  schools,  and  the  public  lectures,  and  or- 
ganized movements  have  been  formed  against  it. 
An  immense  work  has  been  accomplished  by  that 
ever-to-be-honored  champion  of  reform,  Mr.  An- 
thony Comstock,  in  protecting  society  against  this 
malignant  foe,  and  a  better  sentiment  is  becoming 


Morals.  249 

apparent— of  itself,  we  may  hope,  to  prove  a  salu- 
tary safeguard. 

But  great  as  is  this  evil,  it  is  only  a  slight  blem- 
ish upon  the  vast  mass  of  the  general  literature  of 
our   times,  the    character   of  which,   as   compared 
with    previous    centuries,    has    immeasurably    im- 
proved.    Where  do  our  times  furnish  novels  of  the 
vicious  character  of  those  of  Smollett,  Fielding,  and 
their  company?     And  yet  such  books  were  read  by 
all  classes  in  their  day,  in  the  higher  as  well  as  the 
lower  ranks   of   English  society.      Where  are   our 
poets  who  babble  loudly  of  vice  "  in  dainty  verse," 
as   did    Pope,   Moore,    Byron,   etc.?      A  writer  in 
"Blackwood's"  recently  said :  "Pope's  most  melo- 
dious,  correctest   couplets  were    interspersed  with 
lines   which  would   damn   for    ever  and   ever  any 
modern  poetaster." 

Another  said  :  "  It  is  now  necessary  to  prepare 
expurgated  editions  of  Shakspeare  and  of  Dryden 
if  we  would  introduce  them  into  our  families. 
Coming  down  almost  to  our  own  days,  compare  the 
works  of  Lord  Byron  and  of  Tom  Moore  with  the 
works  of  Tennyson  and  of  Longfellow.  Here  is 
the  title  of  one  of  De  Foe's  most  popular  works,  so 
much  of  it  as  decency  will  allow  us  to  quote  ; 
'  Fortunes  and  Misfortunes  of  Moll  Flanders,  who 
was  born  in  Newgate,  and  during  a  Life  of  Con- 
tinued Variety  for  Threescore  Year,  besides  her 
Childhood,  was  Twelve  Year  a  Harlot,  Five  Times 
17 


250      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

a  Wife,  whereof  once  to  her  own  Brother,  Twelve 
Year  a  Thief,  Eight  Year  a  transported  Felon  to 
Virginia,  at  last  grew  Rich,  lived  Honest,  and  died 
a  Penitent.'  Such  a  book,  reaching  the  widest  cir- 
culation of  any  book  of  its  time,  reveals  the  state 
of  public  morals."  * 

We  are  scarcely  out  of  the  wake  of  the  influence 
exerted  by  a  distinguished  French  woman,  who,  as 
a  prolific  writer,  ran  a  famous  career.  Daring  and 
gifted,  she  waged  war  for  many  years  against  social 
decencies  and  religious  belief.  The  productions  of 
her  pen  were  scattered  by  millions,  depraving  the 
taste,  engendering  doubt  in  its  most  radical  forms, 
and  impelling  many  to  flagrant  evils.  The  tone  of 
society  was  vitiated  beyond  remedy  in  a  genera- 
tion. But  it  is  due  to  Madame  Dudevant  (George 
Sand)  to  say  that  in  her  later  years  she  greatly 
modified  her  views,  changed  her  course,  and,  in 
some  measure,  helped  to  correct  the  evils  of  her 
former  life.  She  tried  to  come  to  terms  with 
Christianity,  avowed  a  species  of  quasi  faith  in  its 
system,  and,  it  is  said,  took  refuge  at  death  in  the 
pale  of  the  Church.  We  cite  her  case  as  a  typical 
one,  for  she  was  eminently  representative,  not 
merely  as  a  woman,  but  of  the  genius  of  France. 
As  a  producer  of  impure  literature  she  has  had  no 
successor  who  has  at  all   ranked  with  her  in  power 

*  Editorial  in  "  Tlie  Christian  Advocate,"  New  York  city,  No- 
vember 30,  1876. 


Morals.  251 

for  evil,  nor  do  we  believe  it  possible  with  the 
present  temper  of  literary  criticism  for  another 
writer  to  achieve  such  a  notoriety. 

What  an  effective  expression  of  social  morality, 
is  the  recent  rejection  of  Colonel  Breckenridge,  of 
Kentucky,  by  his  constituents. 

Crime. 

The  subject  of  crime  should  not  be  overlooked 
in  these  inquiries,  for  the  study  of  morals  cannot 
be  dissociated  from  the  study  of  crime.  Moralists 
and  legislators  mutually  influence  each  other.  Un- 
der advancing  conditions  of  society  the  moral  lapses 
of  one  generation  become  the  criminal  offenses  of 
another,  and  deeds  once  praiseworthy  become  pun- 
ishable. In  the  progress  of  an  ever-expanding  civ- 
ilization, religious  beliefs,  theories  of  ethics,  science, 
the  growth  of  commerce  and  trade,  and  whatever 
affects  the  moral  tone  of  society,  exert  an  influence 
upon  criminal  legislation. 

Many  complain  of  the  recent  growth  of  great 
evils,  but  we  believe  that  great  crimes  are  relative- 
ly less,  both  in  this  country  and  in  Europe,  than 
before  the  present  century,  and  that  piety  and 
morality  are  higher  than  ever  before,  except  in 
the  earlier  periods  of  a  few  of  the  American 
colonies,  when,  of  course,  the  condition  was  anom- 
alous, and  would  not  fairly  admit  of  such  a  com- 
parison. 


252       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

The  difificulty  in  the  way  of  comparing  the  crime 
of  the  past  with  that  of  the  present  is  the  want  of 
sufficient  exact  data.  No  single  individual  has  had 
the  needed  amount  of  personal  observation,  at  once 
comprehensive  and  minute,  and  the  public  statistics 
of  previous  periods  are  too  scattering  and  imperfect 
to  form  a  definite  basis  for  calculation.  The 
amount  and  character  of  crime  against  society,  as 
recognized  by  the  police,  may  be  assumed  as  a 
pretty  good  standard  of  the  public  morality;  but 
even  that  is  confessedly  imperfect,  and  mostly  lim- 
ited to  quite  recent  dates.  Perfect  statistics  of 
criminal  jurisprudence,  for  any  given  State  or  city, 
or  for  the  whole  country,  through  the  successive 
decades  of  a  century,  cannot  now  be  obtained,  and, 
even  if  they  could  be,  some  abatements  and  modi- 
fications, suggested  by  collateral  facts,  would  be 
found  necessary.  During  the  past  twenty  or  thirty 
years  considerable  improvement  has  been  made  in 
collecting  and  arranging  criminal  data,  .some  of 
which  will  be  introduced  in  this  discussion. 

But  it  is  too  palpable  to  be  disguised,  nor  are  we 
disposed  to  do  so,  that  great  crimes  have  been 
shockingly  frequent  since  the  close  of  the  late  civil 
war.  The  large  cities  have  become  centers  of 
crime,  where  it  multiplies,  and  often  claims  im- 
punity. Lechery  riots  and  putrefies,  groggeries 
keep  open  on  Sunday  in  the  face  of  worthless  offi- 
cials, filthy  performances  draw  crowded  audiences 


Morals.  253 

to  theaters,  and  elaborately  furnished  gambling 
hells  flourish  unnoticed.  The  larger  cities  are  ba- 
bels of  manifold  crimes,  in  crowding  regiments,  be- 
sieging and  threatening  the  very  existence  of  law 
and  order. 

Grave  charges  have  been  made,  with  too  much 
truth,  we  fear,  against  the  official  guardians  of  law 
and  order,  in  our  larger  cities,  as  the  aiders  and 
abettors  of  crime.  The  report  of  the  Legislative 
Committee  in  New  York,  in  1875,  appointed  to  in- 
vestigate the  conduct  of  the  officials  of  New  York 
city,  gave  a  startling  picture  of  the  demoralization 
of  the  police,  the  offices  of  the  District  Attorney, 
the  Coroner,  and  the  Sheriff,  the  Prisons,  and  the 
Reformatories.      Even    the   detective    force,  under 

Captain  I ,  was  described  as  a  band  of  skillful 

and  treacherous  robbers,  who,  when  in  lack  of  sub- 
jects, robbed  and  betrayed  each  other,  to  keep  their 
hands  in."  We  cannot  pause  to  give  even  a  tithe 
of  the  deplorable  facts  developed  by  this  commit- 
tee, nor  need  we  speak  in  detail  of  similar  things 
elsewhere. 

Nor  in  the  larger  cities  only.  The  rural  com- 
munities, also,  have  furnished  cases  of  daring  atroc- 
ity. Crimes  against  life  and  property  have  seemed 
to  move  in  waves,  sometimes  for  a  few  months, 
coming  with  shocking  frequency.  The  newspapers 
have  freely  discoursed  of  "  The  Reign  of  Violence." 
"The   Era  of  Blood,"  "  The  Carnival   of  Crime," 


254      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

and  sounded  notes  of  alarm.  An  editor,  not  given 
to  sensationalism,*  said,  "  The  problem  revealed  in 
such  developments  of  the  murderous  propensity  is 
certainly  one  calculated  to  justify  the  profoundest 
anxiety  of  every  thoughtful  citizen,  not  only  be- 
cause the  evil  has  reached  alarming  proportions, 
but  because  the  mere  fact  of  prevalence  begets  a 
sort  of  social  influenza,  which  becomes  a  distinct 
and  additional  source  of  crime." 

The  editor  of  one  of  our  largest  religious  news- 
papers has  thus  summed  up  these  complaints 
against  the  crimes  of  our  times  : 

"  To  bring  the  whole  case  before  us,  let  us  cata- 
logue the  crimes,  charges,  criminations  and  recrim- 
inations, and  the  conflicting  convictions  concerning 
public  affairs.  So  much  has  been  poured  into  the 
public  ear  that  disheartened  men  are  not  a  few. 
Many  charges  have  been  urged  on  both  sides  with 
a  view  to  make  them  public  convictions.  We  will 
emphasize  them,  then  analyze  them.  It  is  trum- 
peted abroad  that  distrust,  the  forerunner  of  de- 
struction, fills  the  very  air ;  that  virtue  herself  veils 
her  face,  lest  an  idolatrous  multitude  should  brand 
her  as  a  hypocrite  ;  that  even  integrity  weeps  at 
the  bar  of  the  public  judgment,  waiting  for  a  vindi- 
cation by  events.  It  is  said  that  every  place  of 
public  trust  is  polluted ;  that  thieves  in  the  public 
treasury  consort  with  criminals  in  the  halls  of  jus- 

*  The  "  Boston  Journal" 


Morals.  255 

tice  ;  that  creatures,  wearing  the  badges  of  honora- 
ble and  ancient  orders,  fawn  about  the  steps  of 
power  that  they  may  barter  the  secrets  of  friend- 
ship for  the  booty  of  conspirators  ;  that  the  slime 
of  corruption  has  reached  the  most  holy  place,  till 
avenging  angels  seem  to  guard  the  very  approaches 
to  the  mercy-seat.  But  what  is  worse  than  all  else, 
the  very  efforts  at  reform  are  alleged  to  be  con- 
ceived in  sin  and  born  in  iniquity.  Partisans  seek 
not  criminals,  but  victims.  If  any  scrap  of  honor 
remains  in  public  life  it  attracts  assault. 

"  Liars  and  informers  and  thieves  can  fatten  at 
the  public  expense,  to  secure  room  for  greater 
crimes.  Language  can  do  but  poor  justice  to  the 
case  when  men  who  have  plundered  the  treasury 
are  the  sole  protectors  of  the  government  they 
failed  to  bankrupt  and  overthrow.  If  these  things 
be  true,  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  air  is  full  of  accusa- 
tions. In  the  last  year  we  have  seen  thirty-seven 
investigating  committees  appointed  apparently  to 
slander  political  antagonists  whose  demerit  is,  at 
the  worst,  only  equal  to  that  of  their  persecutors. 
We  have  nearly  three  hundred  indictments  for 
offenses  that  were  fatal  to  honor.  Over  seventy 
have  pleaded  guilty  to  crimes  that  involve  the  hon- 
or of  a  vast  net-work  of  officers. 

•'The  case  is  summed  up  in  a  few  terribly  dark 
characters.  Public  integrity  is  said  to  be  lost  in  the 
sewer  where  politicians  are  spawned  ;  so  that  all 


256       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

turpitudes  in  public  servants  are  accounted  for,  if 
not  justified,  by  the  use  of  the  single  term  politi- 
cian! PubHc  trust,  that  at  once  partakes  of  the 
honor  of  the  citizen  and  the  fideHty  of  the  father, 
rests  as  Hghtly  on  the  political  conscience  as  the 
passing  shadow  of  a  summer  cloud.  Office  is  said 
to  mean  opportunity  for  spoils.  Justice  is  called  a 
cat-o'-nine-tails  with  the  stock  end  in  the  hand  of 
the  great  criminals,  while  the  small  rogues  and 
helpless  victims  dance  at  its  business  end.  Faith  in 
eternal  verities  is  said  to  stumble  over  its  own 
deserted  altars,  strangled  by  the  profligacy  of  its 
own  priests.  Private  fortunes  are  thought  to  be  in 
perpetual  peril  from  the  treachery  of  personal  friends 
as  well  as  from  the  assaults  of  organized  bands  of 
plunderers."  * 

Astounding  cases  of  defalcation,  forgery,  and 
other  offenses  against  trust  and  honor,  involving 
in  heavy  crime  men  of  highest  respectability,  of 
lofty  religious  profession,  pillars  of  Churches,  and 
conspicuous  in  Christian  and  charitable  labors,  have 
been  the  most  painful  and  staggering  to  public  con- 
fidence of  all  the  recent  developments.  While  set- 
ting their  hands  to  deeds  for  which  they  now  lie  in 
penitentiaries,  they  were  "  repeating  every  Sabbath 
the  prayers  of  the  Church  ;  singing  songs  hallowed 
by  the  voices  of  martyrs ;  giving  freely  of  stolen 
goods  to  Christian    benevolences;    and    seemingly 

*"  Christian  Advocate,"  New  York  city,  Nov.  30,  1876. 


Morals.  257 

delighting  in  deeds  of  charity  more  than  in  hoard- 
ing gold.  So  tortuous,  serpentine,  and  idiotic,  under 
the  wiles  of  evil,  have  consciences  become."  Faith- 
less officials  have  lived  in  splendid  mansions,  driven 
fast  horses,  and  traveled  in  foreign  lands,  on  the 
money  of  poor  people,  putting  industry  and  econo- 
my at  a  discount. 

The  effect  of  these  oft-repeated  defalcations  has 
been  fearfully  cumulative.  Sermons,  homilies, 
scathing  editorials,  public  and  social  indignations, 
have  multiplied,  inculcating  virtue,  protesting 
against  venality,  and  warning  of  the  consequences 
of  dishonesty.  Then  straightway  one  supposed  to 
be  incorruptible  takes  a  hand  in  the  unequal  game, 
and  surprises  the  public  with  a  fresh  example  of 
perfidy  and  ruin.  Within  a  brief  period  a  single 
New  England  city  has  furnished  a  half-dozen  illus- 
trations of  defaulters  in  high  social  and  religious 
positions. 

No  theory  fully  accounts  for  the  recent  increase 
of  crime.  Sometimes  it  is  said  to  be  owing  to  the 
infusion  of  a  large  immoral  foreign  population  into 
the  country;  but  the  next  moment  we  hear  of  some 
horrid  atrocity  by  a  native  American  of  education 
and  good  social  standing.  Then  we  talk  of  the 
cities  as  the  peculiar  abodes  of  crime  ;  but  the  next 
day  a  quiet  rural  district  furnishes  a  case  which  for 
savagery  matches  anything  perpetrated  in  the  vilest 
haunts  of  the  large  centers.     It  is  impossible  to  go 


258       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

to  the  deepest  root  of  homicidal  crime,  for  it  in- 
volves "some  of  the  most  occult  and  difficult  prob- 
lems of  mental  and  moral  psychology."  Malignant 
ulcers,  horrid  deformities,  and  infectious  distempers 
have  always  afflicted  the  highest  civilizations,  and 
probably  will  continue  to  do  so. 

We  have  given  the  alleged  demoralization  so 
much  prominence  and  emphasis  that  we  may  do 
full  justice  to  many  palpable  facts,  and  lest  we 
should  seem  to  unduly  eulogize  the  present  age. 
But  a  broad  and  discriminating  analysis  of  these 
unfavorable  aspects  of  our  times,  in  the  light  of 
previous  times,  will  throw  a  clearing  light  upon  the 
page,  and  show  that  the  indications  are  not  doleful 
but  hopeful ;  that  some  are  temporary  reactions  un- 
der temporary  causes ;  that  others  are  eddying  cir- 
cles in  the  stream  of  progress;  others,  first,  and 
probably  transient,  out-puttings  of  new  and  imma- 
ture stages  of  civilization  ;  and  that,  whatever  shad- 
ows here  and  there  may  darken  the  picture,  its 
average  light  and  beauty  are  immeasurably  greater 
than  in  former  days. 

There  are  many  weighty  considerations  which 
shed  an  alleviating  light  upon  the  situation. 

First  of  all,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  a  large 
part  of  the  increase  of  crime  is  apparent  rather  than 
real.  It  is  not  simply  that  more  crimes  are  com- 
mitted, but  more  are  reported.  "  We  read  about 
defalcations  and  rascalities,  but  we  forget  that  we 


Morals.  259 

skim  the  whole  creation  every  morning  and  put  the 
results  in  our  coffee.  Years  ago  a  crime  had  to  be 
of  unusual  proportions  to  make  its  way  into  an  ad- 
joining State.  Only  the  giant  crimes  could  cross 
the  continent.  But  now  we  see  and  know  every 
thing." 

"  The  ubiquitous  reporter,"  says  the  editor  of  the 
"Boston  Journal,"  (July  11,  1879,)  "  i^  responsible 
for  the  gloomy  showing.  His  note-book  and  pen- 
cil are  every-where,  and  the  telegraph  is  the  ready 
agent  for  transmitting  news  to  all  parts  of  the 
world.  The  scope  of  the  press  has  vastly  broad- 
ened of  late  years,  and  its  facilities  for  collecting 
news  are  immensely  multiplied.  We  have  had  the 
curiosity  to  look  back  over  some  early  files  of '  The 
Journal,'  in  order  to  show  by  comparison  the 
change  which  has  taken  place.  Selecting  an  issue 
of  the  paper  at  random,  in  July,  1850,  we  find  that 
out  of  thirty-two  columns  contained  in  the  paper 
precisely  one  third  of  a  column  is  taken  up  with 
telegraph  news,  and  two  thirds  of  a  column  with 
local  news,  half  of  the  latter  space  being  devoted  to 
an  account  of  tenement-house  life  on  Fort  Hill.  Of 
actual  news,  gathered  by  reporters  and  by  telegraph, 
the  paper  contained  hardly  more  than  half  a  col- 
umn. '  The  Journal '  of  that  day  was  not  less 
enterprising  than  its  contemporaries ;  but  journal- 
istic ideas  and  ideals  were  altogether  different.  The 
newspaper  reader  then  was  content  with  the  narrow 


26o       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

horizon  which  his  paper  supplied  him,  and  troubled 
himself  very  little  about  matters  which  went  on  at 
a  distance.  The  newspaper  editor  presented  news 
as  it  happened  to  come,  and  when  it  came,  and  was 
not  given  to  making  special  exertions  for  procuring 
it.  How  different  this  is  from  the  journalism  of  to- 
day, with  its  net-work  of  agencies,  embracing  the 
most  insignificant  places  and  the  most  remote  quar- 
ters of  the  world  ;  with  its  complex  facilities  and 
mighty  rivalries ;  with  its  special  correspondents 
here,  there,  and  every-where — scouring  the  deserts 
of  Central  Asia,  exploring  Africa,  watching  the  mil- 
itary movements  in  Zululand,  and  even  going  out  in 
quest  of  a  way  to  the  North  Pole — we  hardly  need 
say.  The  editor  of  thirty  years  ago  would  have 
stood  aghast  at  the  expenditures  for  news  collecting 
necessary  to  a  journal  of  to-day.  But  we  may  note, 
in  passing,  that  in  the  scanty  space  devoted  to 
news  in  the  issue  of  July,  1850,  to  which  we  refer, 
we  find  mention  of  nine  crimes." 

What  proportion  of  crime  is  apparent  and  what 
is  actual  cannot  be  satisfactorily  answered.  Our 
bureaus  of  statistics  are  preparing  materials  which 
may  at  some  time  assist  us.  Unquestionably,  more 
crimes  are  now  committed  than  twenty  or  thirty 
years  ago.  But  during  this  period  great  changes 
have  taken  place  in  the  composition  of  our  popula- 
tion. 

It  must  be  evident  to  all  that  as  society  develops 


Morals.  261 

life  becomes  more  rapid  and  intense,  and  the  liabil- 
ity to  break  down  under  overstrain  increases,  with 
those  naturally  frail  or  ill-balanced;  but  such  fail- 
ures  do    not    indicate    a   general    deterioration    of 
morals.     An  over-wrought  civilization  will  exhibit 
some  painful  features.     The  high  nervous  tension 
characteristic  of  our  times  easily  slips  into  some 
form  of  derangement  or  aberration,  or  enfeebles  self- 
control,  and  makes  men  easy  victims  of  temptation 
and  passion,  to  which  in  a  truly  normal  condition 
they  would  not  have  succumbed.     "  I  believe,"  said 
an    English    writer,  "it   may  hold    true    that   any 
period  of  great  mental  activity  in  a  nation  will  be 
prolific  of  crime.     The  Greeks  were  sad    knaves; 
that  is  to  say,  there  were  sad  knaves  among  them ; 
and  so,  God  knows,  there  are  in  England,  at   the 
present  day  of  free  trade  and  swift  intercommunica- 
tion  stimulating  mental  activity  into  rapid,  perhaps 
morbid,  action.     The  knavery  of  the  Italian  repub- 
lics was  enormous-hidden    from    us,   however,  to 
some  extent  by  their  astounding  ruffianism.     Mac 
chiavelli,  Guicciardini,  and  a  host  of  other  writers, 
show  how  deeply  the  depravity  of  actual  life  had 
corroded  all  moral  principles.     The  theory  of  the 
Italians   was   worthy   of  their   practice,  and    their 
practice  of  their  theory.     Yet  what  marvels  of  in- 
tellect they  were-intellect  in  all  its  branches!" 

Another  effect  of  advanced  civilization  is  that  the 
higher  the  taste  is  cultivated  the  fewer  pictures  do 


262       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

we  see  which  challenge  admiration,  A  nearer  in- 
spection of  the  F^nelons,  Madame  Guyons,  Augus- 
tines,  etc.,  would  present  points  of  criticism  to  us 
which  did  not  arrest  attention  in  their  age ;  and 
future  ages  may  exalt  into  first-class  saints  some  of 
the  average  saints  of  to-day. 

In  talking  of  the  enormous  wickedness  of  large 
cities,  sufficient  allowance  is  not  made  for  the  pal- 
pable fact  that  large  aggregates  of  population  neces- 
sarily concentrate  and  intensify  large  aggregates  of 
evil.  In  the  year  1800  the  population  of  London 
did  not  vary  much  from  the  present  population  of 
New  York  city;  but  the  amount  of  crime  and  the 
criminal  population  of  London  at  that  time  far  ex- 
ceeded these  elements  in  New  York  at  the  present 
time.  Colquhoun's  "  Police  of  London  "  furnished 
ample  statistics  of  London  crime  eighty  years  ago. 
The  number  of  offenses  designated  as  "  high  crimes," 
in  a  single  year,  was  10,880;*  and  the  number  of 

*  Later  statistics  of  the  police  and  c?ime  of  Loudon  :  In  1831  the 
population  comprised  within  the  metropolitan  police  district  of  Lon- 
don was  1,468,442,  and  the  number  of  police  was  3,341.  In  1878  the 
population  was  4,534,040,  ("British  Almanac  and  Companion," 
1880,  p.  131,)  and  the  police  numbered  10,477.  The  ratio  of  increase 
was  nearly  the  same  in  both. 

The  Chief  Commissioner's  Report  for  1878  ("British  Almanac 
and  Companion,"  1880,  p.  273)  shows  : 

Arrests 83.7-16 

.Summarily  convicted  or  held  for  trial 57.038 

Subsequently  discharged  after  trial 817 

Total  convicted 56,221 


Morals.  263 

persons  living  by  "  different  sorts  of  villainy  re^ju 
larly  carried  on"  was  119,500,  or  one  for  every  nine 
inhabitants.  These  figures  were  the  results  of  "  long 
experience  and  minute  inquiries  "  by  Mr.  Colqu- 
houn,  and  "  did  not  include  every  kind  of  fraud  and 
dishonesty  practiced."  We  do  not  believe  our 
national  metropolis,  with  all  its  corruptions,  can 
produce  such  a  record.  But  the  forces  of  good  are 
relatively  more  numerous,  active,  and  powerful  in 
large  populations  than  in  smaller.  Virtue  also  ag- 
gregates and  concentrates  in  large  populations. 
What  powerful  centers  of  moral,  reformatory,  and 
religious  agencies,  of  world-wide  influence,  are  New 
York  and  London,  and  how  vastly  more  so,  too, 
relatively,  than  eighty  or  a  hundred  years  ago. 

The  period  1865  to  1 880  compared  favorably 
with  other  post-bellum  periods.  Wars  are  the  pro- 
lific causes  of  moral  deterioration,  deadening  and 
brutalizing  the  finer  sensibilities,  cheapening  the 
estimate  of  human  life,  and  introducing  an  era 
of  fictitious  prosperity,  greed,  and  extravagance. 
But,  as  compared  with  other  periods  and  people, 
we  hardly  know  what  luxury  means,  as  might  be 
demonstrated  by  scraps  gathered  from  the  ancient 

Of  this  number  16,227  were  cases  of  drunkenness,  leaving  39,994 
cases  of  more  serious  offenses,  in  a  police  district  containing  4,534,- 
040  inhabitants,  or  one  for  113  inhabitants.  But,  according  to  Mr. 
Colquhoun,  as  cited  above,  in  1800,  with  a  population  of  958,863, 
there  were  ro,88o  "high  crimes,"  or  one  tor  89  inhabitants.  This 
is  an  indication  of  progress. 


264       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

and  modern  world.  Roman  luxury  squandered  in 
a  single  dinner  amounts  equal  to  many  modern  for- 
tunes ;  Roman  youths  of  seventeen  summers  needed 
from  three  to  five  millions  of  dollars  "  to  make  them 
even  ;  "  vast  Roman  estates  often  changed  hands  for 
the  merest  trifle,  to  gratify  pride  or  appetite  ;  Ro- 
man freedmen  purchased  three  hundred  thousand 
dollar  estates  from  desperate  debauchees,  for  one 
hundred  dollars  ready  money ;  Mark  Anthony 
squandered  three  quarters  of  a  billion  of  the  public 
money ;  in  Roman  thoroughfares  tables  were  pub- 
licly spread  with  money  for  the  purchase  of  votes  ; 
in  the  Roman  baths  thousands  of  men  and  women 
were  abandoned,  without  shame,  en  masse,  to  the 
lowest  crimes.  These  are  a  few  citations  showing 
the  demoralization  following  successful  Roman  wars. 
Coming  nearer  to  our  own  times,  we  look  at  En- 
gland after  the  Restoration,  and  find  Hobbes  pub- 
licly teaching  that  the  will  of  the  king  is  the  ground 
of  right  and  wrong,  and  the  standard  of  morals, 
under  such  doctrine,  the  lowest,  perhaps,  of  any 
court  since  the  days  of  the  Caesars.  Even  "  the  Re- 
stored Church  was  powerless,  because  it  had  driven 
out  the  Puritans  to  make  room  for  itself.  Saved 
by  the  sinners  of  that  age  from  the  saints,  it  could 
do  little  or  nothing  to  correct  the  evils  that  flooded 
the  land."  *     His  fifteen  illegitimate   children  en- 

♦  See  editorial  in  "Christian  Advocate,"  New  York  city,  Nov.  30, 
1876,  from  which  some  of  these  citations  are  made. 


Morals.  265 

dowed  and  ennobled  by  Parliament,  the  king  aban- 
doned himself  to  his  score  of  vile  mistresses. 
Squandering  upon  his  sons  public  money  raised  for 
a  war  against  Holland,  he  was  still  in  want;  and,  in 
spite  of  his  plundering  of  the  treasury,  was  destitute 
of  linen,  his  unpaid  grooms  having  carried  it  off  for 
their  pay. 

The  typical  periods  of  a  previous  chapter  furnish 
ample  facts,  which  may  be  cited,  showing  our 
more  favorable  condition,  even  in  this  post-bellum 
period. 

The  recent  period  of  financial  straits,  depressing 
ousiness,  closing  up  large  manufacturing  and  mechan- 
ical establishments,  and  throwing  out  of  employment 
several  hundred  thousand  men,  in  all  parts  of  the 
country,  has  been  one  of  the  most  productive 
causes  of  crime.  Great  crimes  often  spring,  not  so 
much  from  vicious  purposes,  as  from  downright 
idleness.  The  unemployed  have  not  far  to  go 
before  they  tumble  into  dangerous  pitfalls,  or  are 
drawn  into  fatal  allurements.  It  is  easy  enough  for 
vice  to  come  from  having  nothing  to  do. 

It  is  to  be  feared  that  the  sensational  and  detailed 
accounts  of  crime,  which  some  journals  publish, 
awaken  a  morbid  emulation  among  the  criminally 
disposed,  and  suggest  acts  which  might  not  other- 
wise be  thought  of.  Thus  a  murderer  becomes  an 
object  of  interest  as  soon  as  he  is  arrested.     Ladies 

weep  in   the    court  room    when   he    is    tried  ;    and 
18 


266      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

when  he  is  condemned  heaven  and  earth  are  moved  to 
save  him  from  the  gallows.  Leniency  in  sentences 
and  flagrant  abuse  of  the  pardoning  power  have 
diminished  the  restraint  upon  crime.  The  laws  are 
right,  but  a  maudlin  sentimentalism  has  interfered 
with  their  execution.  Take  away  the  fear  of  pun- 
ishment, and  the  criminal  classes  become  rampant. 

There  has  also  been  too  much  disposition  to 
speak  of  successful  crime  as  "  smartness."  Great 
swindlers  have  been  exalted  above  ordinary  pil- 
ferers and  pickpockets.  The  perverted  popular 
moral  sense  has  honorably  discriminated  in  favor 
of  Wall-street  gamblers  over  the  denizens  of  the 
gambling  "  hells." 

Our  greatest  and  meanest  criminals  have  been 
the  "game  "men  to  the  people,  "  chiefs  "  of  the 
"  rings,"  "  sachems  "  of  Tammany.  Their  very  ef- 
frontery has  been  a  species  of  heroism.  Such 
things  indicate  low  commercial  morality,  and  have 
exerted  a  deteriorating  influence.  But  this  spell 
has  been  broken,  and  we  are  doing  better.  A  better 
moral  sentiment  aroused  the  people  ;  the  "  sachem  " 
was  compelled  to  succumb  to  the  majesty  of  law; 
and  now  no  position,  however  sacred,  shields  from 
arrest  and  conviction. 

The  influence  of  the  large  foreign  immigration  dur- 
ing the  past  fifty  years,  infusing  lower  and  antago- 
nistic moral  elements  into  our  population,  has  been 
several  times  incidentally  alluded  to,  as  a  cause  of 


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Morals.  267 

much  of  the  moral  decUne  which  has  been  apparent. 
This  new  and  heterogeneous  element  has  been  a 
large  one,  sufficient  to  impart  a  changed  aspect  to 
American    society.     Between  1850  and    1880  eight 
millions  of  foreigners,  a  number  nearly  equal  to  one 
third  of  the  total  increase  of  our  population  during 
that  period,  were  added  to  our  people.     Their  im- 
mediate offspring,  partaking  fully  of  the  same  ideas 
and  habits,  have  swelled  the  number  to  nearly  one 
half  of  our  total  increase.     So  large  an  addition  of 
people  of  loose  moral  culture  has   been  a  severe 
strain  upon  our  morals.     Their  drinking  habits  have 
given  a  new  impulse  to  the  use  of  alcoholic  liquors, 
and  their  holiday-Sabbath  habits  have  exerted  an 
evil    influence   on    our   communities,    relaxing   the 
sanctity  of  the  Lord's  day.     French   and   German 
Communists  have  become  a  serious  element  of  troub- 
le, and   may  yet  tax  our  virtue  and  wisdom   more 
severely.     The  people  of  foreign  extraction  in  New 
England,  constituting  twenty  per  cent,  of  the  popu- 
lation in    1870,   furnished  seventy-five  per  cent,  of 
New   England  crime — probably  also  true  of  other 
sections  of  the  country.     This  is  the  testimony  of 
United  States  official  statistics. 

And  yet  it  is  idle  to  say  that  our  greatest  crimes 
are  committed  by  escaped  criminals  from  Europe. 
We  must  confess  that  people  of  our  own  nursing 
commit  a  large  share  of  the  flagrant  offenses : 
that  maelstroms  of  vice  in    our   midst  are    ready 


268       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

to  engulf  newly  arrived  immigrants  ;  that  we  have 
done  comparatively  little  to  throw  around  these  new- 
comers saving  moral  influences  ;  and  that  we  have 
allowed  multitudes  of  children  from  Ireland,  Ger- 
many,  and  Italy,  of  parents  too  poor  or  depraved 
to  care  for  them,  to  become  waifs,  to  grow  up  with- 
out  any  purposes  higher  than  brutal  indulgence,  and 
to  swell  the  terrible  aggregate  of  our  criminal  classes. 
And,  further,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  our 
rural  population  furnishes  a  considerable  per  cent, 
of  our  gross  criminals.  The  excitements  and  variety 
of  city  life  attract  young  men  from  the  country,  to 
become  victims  of  evil,  and  rapidly  descend  the 
terrible  gradations  of  crime. 

But  it  is  also  a  very  noticeable  and  encouraging 
fact,  that  large  portions  of  our  foreign  population 
have  very  greatly  improved  in  morals  and  intelli- 
gence since  they  came  among  us.  Even  those 
representing  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  have 
changed  for  the  better  by  inhaling  the  atmosphere 
of  Protestant  society  ;  and  hence  American  Roman- 
ism exhibits  a  higher  moral  type  than  European 
Romanism.  Italian  and  Spanish  Romanism  could 
not  exist  in  the  United  States.  Among  these 
signs  of  moral  elevation  may  be  mentioned  the 
purchase  of  houses,  farms,  and  lands,  in  all  portions 
of  the  country,  by  industrious  and  economical  for- 
eigners, and  the  enrollment  of  one  hundred  thou 
sand  Irishmen  in  total  abstinence  societies. 


Morals.  269 

May  it  not  be  said  that  we  have  endured  the 
heavy  strain  upon  our  moral  forces  from  so  large 
and  sudden  a  foreign  increment  quite  as  well  as 
could  be  expected,  and  that  the  improving  indica- 
tions now  warrant  the  hope  that,  after  another 
score  of  years,  with  due  effort  by  those  already 
arousing  and  concentrating  for  the  work,  we  may 
see  a  still  higher  moral  development? 

The  latest  statistics  indicate  a  decrease  in  crime 
in  the  largest  cities.  In  Boston,  where  about  twenty 
years  ago  murders  were  so  frequent,  fewer  homi- 
cides have  occurred  during  the  last  five  years.  The 
report  of  the  Police  Justices  for  1880,  in  New  York 
city,  contained  encouraging  facts.  While  the  city 
population  had  increased  over  seventy  thousand  in 
the  years  1875  to  1880,  crime  had  diminished  more 
than  twenty-five  per  cent.  This  improvement  was 
attributed  to  a  growing  temperance  sentiment,  the 
discouragement  of  willful  pauperism  by  systematic 
charities,  the  enforced  attendance  upon  schools,  the 
punishment  of  truancy  by  the  civil  authorities,  the 
relative  decrease  in  the  foreign  immigration  from 
1875  to  1880,  the  widely  extending  mission  work 
among  the  most  degraded  population,  and  the 
increase  of  the  practical  activities  of  the  Churches. 
And  yet  a  sufficient  amount  of  crime  remained,  in 
startling  and  destructive  forms,  to  tax  all  the  vir- 
tues and  efforts  of  the  better  portion  of  society  for 
higher  progress. 


2/0       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

A  common  misconception  often  leads  to  hasty 
and  improper  conclusions  in  regard  to  the  preva- 
lence of  crime.  Statistics  of  crime  are  often  ac- 
cepted, without  the  needful  discrimination  in  re- 
gard to  the  progress  of  criminal  legislation,  which  is 
constantly  increasing  the  number  of  offenses  cog- 
nizable by  law.  The  figures  themselves,  accepted 
without  discrimination,  show  an  apparent  increase 
of  crime,  when  much  of  the  increase  is  affected  by 
legislation.  "  Civilization  has  raised  many  things 
formerly  considered  perhaps  as  immoral,  and  as 
offenses  against  moral  law,  into  well-defined  crimes, 
and  subject  to  punishment  as  such.  The  result  is, 
we  are  constantly  increasing  the  work  of  criminal 
courts,  by  giving  prosecuting  officers  new  fields  to 
canvass,  and  by  adding  to  the  list  of  offenses  defined 
as  crimes.  The  number  of  sentences  is  thus  in- 
creased comparatively."*  "  The  number  of  offenses 
designated  as  crimes  by  the  criminal  code  of  Mas- 
sachusetts largely  exceeds  that  of  other  States  ;  for 
instance,  the  statutes  of  Massachusetts  compre- 
hended, in  i860,  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  offenses 
punishable  as  crimes,  while  the  code  of  Virginia 
for  the  same  year  recognized  but  one  hundred  and 
eight,  or  fift}'  less.  The  same  is  true,  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent,  of  nearly  if  not  quite  all  the  other 
States."  t 

*  "  Eleventh  Annual  Report,  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor,  State 
of  Massachusetts,"  Jan.,  1880,  p.  193.  f  Ibid.,  p.  178. 


Morals.  271 

This  tendency  of  civilization,  by  legislative  enact- 
ments to  increase  the  list  of  offenses  recognized  as 
crimes,  must  be  kept  distinctly  before  our  minds, 
when  the  present  is  compared  with  the  past. 

In  earlier  times  many  serious  offenses  against 
individual,  social,  and  public  welfare  were  hardly 
elevated  into  the  dignity  of  crimes.  In  large  circles 
of  men  killing  was  no  murder,  taking  no  robbery, 
the  violation  of  a  woman  no  rape,  in  the  modern 
sense.  Further  on,  robber  chieftains  were  tolerated 
even  by  governments  which  enacted  laws  for  the 
suppression  of  robbery  and  violence.  From  these 
lower  conditions  the  law  of  im.provement  can  be 
traced,  restricted  to  no  class  or  race,  but  wide  as 
the  range  of  history.  It  is  seen  in  the  progress  of 
language,  and  the  progressive  significance  of  words, 
as  well  as  in  statutory  legislation. 

The  times  are  not  very  remote  when  brave  law- 
breakers not  only  believed  themselves  good  men  and 
true,  but  even  had  the  sympathy  of  large  numbers 
of  their  fellow-countrymen.  In  the  history  of  crim- 
inal legislation  in  England,  says  the  "  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica,"  **  we  find  the  ideas  of  the  primitive 
tribesmen  steadily  resisting  the  advance  of  civiliza- 
tion, retreating  very  slowly  from  position  to  posi- 
tion, and  rarely  yielding  one  without  a  long  and 
desperate  struggle."  "  The  crime  of  forcible  entry 
hardly  ceased  to  be  common  before  the  eighteenth 
century.     When  valor  was  the  greatest  or  only  vir- 


2/2       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

tue,  one  clan  took  land  by  force  from  another." 
"  Long  after  this  half-savage  condition  of  society 
it  remained  a  maxim  of  the  English  law,  that  there 
was  no  legal  possession  of  land  without  actual 
seisin."  "  As  late  as  the  reign  of  William  IV.  the 
fiction  of  a  forcible  entry  continued  to  be  one  of  the 
chief  implements  of  the  conveyancer's  art." 

"The  modern  security  of  life  and  propeity  of 
every  description  represents  the  triumphs  of  new 
ideas  over  old.  .  .  .  Fraud  has  never  increased 
with  the  increase  of  trade  and  civilization.  It  in- 
fected commerce  at  the  very  beginning,  and  ex- 
isted during  the  darkness  of  the  Middle  Ages  in 
every  form  then  possible.  It  may,  and  it  sometimes 
does,  assume  new  shapes,  as  society  groups  itself 
anew,  as  occupations  and  the  relations  of  man  to 
man  are  changed.  .  .  .  With  infinite  diflficulty  has 
civilized  mankind  so  far  gained  the  victory  over 
its  own  primitive  nature  as  to  concur,  with  some 
approach  to  unanimity,  in  reprobation  of  the  forger- 
monk,  the  brigand-knight,  and  the  man  who 
regarded  a  woman  as  a  chattel  and  a  tempting 
object  for  appropriation." 

"  It  is  most  necessary  to  bear  in  mind  the  con- 
trast between  the  habits  and  ideas  of  one  period 
and  of  another,  if  we  wish  to  estimate  correctly  the 
position  of  the  criminal  in  modern  society,  or  the 
alleged  uniformity  of  human  actions  to  be  dis- 
covered  by  statistics.      There  is,  no    doubt,  some 


Morals.  273 

truth   in  the  statement  that   in  a  modern  civiHzed 
country — Great  Britain,  for  example — the  statistics 
of  one  year  bear  a  strong  resemblance  to  the  statis- 
tics of  another   in  many  particulars.     But  a  little 
reflection  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  there  is  noth- 
ing at  all  marvelous  in  such  coincidences,  and  that 
they  do  not  prove  human  nature  to  be  unalterable, 
or  circumstances  to  be  unchangeable.     They  only 
show,  what  might  have  been  predicted  beforehand, 
that  human  beings  of  the  same  race,  remaining  in 
circumstances  approximately  the  same,  continue  to 
act  upon  nearly  the  same  motives  and   to  display 
nearly  the  same  weaknesses.     The   statistics   of  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  of  half  a  century,  even  of  a 
whole  century,  (if  we  could  have  them  complete  for 
so  long  a  period,)  could  tell  us  but  little  of  those 
subtle  changes  in  human  organization  which  have 
come  to  pass  in  the  lapse  of  ages,  and  the  sum  of 
which  has  rendered  life  in  Britain,  in  the  nineteenth 
century,  so  different  as  it  is  from   life  in  the  sixth. 
...  If,  for  instance,  we    look  at  the  statistics  of 
homicide  and  suicide  in  England  during  any  ten 
recent  years,  we  perceive  that  the  figures  of  any  one 
year  very  little  exceed  or  fall    below  the  general 
average.     Yet  no  inference  could  be  more  erroneous 
than   that    homicide    has  always    borne   the    same 
proportion   to  population   in   England  as   at  pres- 
ent ;  for  in  the  reign  of  Edward  III.  there  were,  in 
proportion  to  population,  at  least  sixteen  cases  of 


274      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

homicide  to  every  one  which  occurs  in  our  own 
time."  * 

If  we  take  the  whole  of  Christendom  into  consid- 
eration, we  shall  doubtless  find  far  less  crime  than  in 
pagan  and  uncivilized  countries,  but  the  aggregate 
of  offenses  in  this  more  favored  portion  of  the  world 
has  become  hideous  and  alarming,  demonstrating 
the  need  of  greater  forces  or  better  administration 
than  now  exist  for  their  suppression.  The  first  at- 
tempt to  collect  and  publish  statistics  of  crime  was 
in  France,  in  1826,  followed  by  England  in  1835, 
and  later  by  other  nations. 

The  exhibits  for  France  are  terrible.  From  1826 
to  1880  her  population  increased  only  from  31,000,000 
to  37,000,000,  but  the  trials  for  adultery  multiplied 
ninefold;  rape  on  children  increased  from  136  per 
annum  to  809 ;  assassinations  from  197  to  239  ;  arson 
from  71  to  150,  and  infanticide  from  102  to  219. 

In  the  leading  European  countries,  in  seven  years, 
(188 1  to  1887,)  the  annual  average  of  homicides  was  :t 


Austria 68g 

Hungary 1,231 

Spain 1,584 

Italy 3,606 

Germany 577 

France 847 


Belgium 132 

Holland 35 

England 318 

Scotland 60 

Ireland 129 


Total,  yearly.  .  .  .    9,208 

Mr.  Lea  ("  Forum,"  August,  1894)  says,  the  most 
efficient   of  all   causes  leading  to    the    increase   of 

*  "  Encyclopedia  Britannica."     Ninth  edition.     Vol.  vi.     Article, 
"  Crime." 

I  Henry  Charles  Lea,  in  "Foram,"  August,  1894. 


Morals.  275 

crime  is  "  the  humanitarian  movement  which  is  so 
marked  a  feature  of  the  present  century.  The  re- 
action against  the  barbarism  bequeathed  to  us  by 
the  Middle  Ages — a  reaction  led  by  Beccasia  in 
criminal  jurisprudence,  and  by  Howard  in  prison 
discipline — has  not  been  without  its  serious  draw- 
backs. Punishments  have  been  mitigated,  while 
methods  of  procedure  have  been  adopted,  which  in 
their  efforts  to  avoid  injustice  to  the  innocent  afford 
impunity  to  the  guilty,  or  so  protract  the  trial  that 
the  deterrent  influence  of  speedy  justice  is  lost." 

A  weak  or  corrupt  working  of  the  jury  system, 
and  great  hesitation  about  bringing  on  the  trials, 
are  cited  by  Mr.  Lea  as  other  causes  working  evil 
to  public  order:  Thus  in  France,  in  1887,  out  of 
459,319  complaints,  239,061,  or  more  than  half,  were 
pigeon-holed.  Unlike  the  English,  the  Continental 
jury  is  not  required  to  be  unanimous;  its  decisions 
are  reached  by  secret  ballot,  in  which  a  tie  acquits, 
and  a  blank  or  illegible  ballot  is  counted  for  ac- 
quittal. ...  In  Italy  no  execution,  save  in  the 
army,  has  taken  place  since  1876,  and  the  death 
penalty  was  finally  abolished  as  useless,  (in  1891,)  as 
it  has  likewise  been  in  Holland,  Portugal,  Roumania, 
and  practically  in  Belgium  and  Switzerland.  In  the 
other  States,  the  following  curious  table,  quoted  by 
Professor  Ferri  from  the  Howard  Atheneum,  shows 
how  tender  are  the  Continental  nations  in  the  judi- 
cial sheddine:  of  blood : 


276      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


Country. 

Austria  .... 

France 

Spain 

Sweden  .... 
Denmark. . . 
Bavaria.  .  . . 


Period. 

Condem- 

E.xecu- 

nations. 

tions. 

1870-79 

806 

16 

1870-79 

198 

93 

1868-77 

291 

126 

1869-78 

32 

3 

1868-77 

94 

I 

1870-79 

249 

7 

Country. 

N.   Germany. 

England 

Ireland 

Scotland 

Australia   and 
New  Zealand 


Period. 


iCondem- 


1869-78 
1860-79 
1860-79 
1860-79 

1870-79 


665 
66 
40 


Execu- 
tions. 


372 
36 
15 


It  will  be  noticed  that  the  figures  for  England, 
Scotland,  and  Ireland  comprise  twenty  years  each, 
and  the  others  only  ten  years  each.  "  British 
severity,  as  illustrated  by  these  figures,"  says  Mr. 
Lea,*  "may  perhaps  explain  how  England  has  held 
crime  in  check."  Great  Britain,  during  the  last  fifty 
years,  has  indeed  led  the  world  in  the  difficult  task 
of  repressing  high  crimes. 

We  have  no  statistics  of  crime  in  Great  Britain 
prior  to  1840,  but  the  following  tables,  collated  from 
English  sourceSjf  show  a  great  improvement  since 
that  time : 


The  Higher  Class  of  Criminal  Convictions. 


Average  for 
three  years. J 

England 
and  Wales. 

Scotland. 

Ireland 

I 840-1 842    . 

. .    23,980 

2,907 

10,118 

1850-1852    . 

. .    21,140 

3.150 

13,979 

1860-1862    . 

••     13,753 

2,508 

3,348 

187O-1872    . 

..    11,920 

2,281 

2,623 

1880-1882    . 

. .    11,422 

1,940 

2,445 

189O-1892    . 

• •      9.301 

1,843 

1,214 

United 
Kingdom. 

37,005 

38,269 

19,609 

16,824 

15,807 

12,358 


*  The  entire  article  of  Mr.  Lea,  in  the  "  Forum,"  is  of  great  inter- 
est and  value. 

f  "  Financial  Reform  Almanac,"  "  Whitaker's  London  Almanac," 
and  the  "  Encyclopaedia  Britannica."     Ninth  edition. 

I  The  average  of  these  years  in  each  period  is  taken,  because  in 
some  single  years  the  number  is  exceptionally  large  or  small. 


IiirstKAriNf;    riiE  Dkckkask  oi.    Hkmi  (rim 
ENGLAND  AND  WALES  SCOTLAND.        IRELAND. 


UNITED  KINGDOM 


Average  for 

England 

Scotland. 

Ireland. 

three  years. 

and  Wales. 

I 840-1 842    . 

.  .  .        664 

902 

810 

185O-1852    . 

.  .  .        854 

919 

466 

1860-1862    . 

.  ..    1,463 

1,222 

1,729 

187O-1872    . 

.  ..    1,909 

1.476 

2,057 

1880-18S2    . 

■••    2,274 

1.925 

2,118 

1890-1892    . 

. ..    3.109 

2,175 

3.875 

Morals.  277 

The  following  table  will  indicate  the  relative 
progress,  by  showing  the  member  of  inhabitants  for 
one  criminal  conviction,  in  the  given  periods  : 

United 
Kingdom. 

722 
713 

1.477 
1.873 
2,229 
3.083 

The  above  tables  show  that  the  number  of  crim- 
inal convictions,  from  1840  to  1892,  decreased,  in 
England  and  Wales,  from  23,980  to  9,301  ;  in  Scot- 
land, from  2,907  to  1,846;  in  Ireland,  from  10,118 
to  1,214;  and  in  the  United  Kingdom,  from  37,005 
to  12,358.  But  during  all  this  time  the  population, 
except  in  Ireland,  was  increasing.  Comparing  with 
the  population,  we  find  that  in  England  and  Wales, 
instead  of  one  conviction  for  high  crimes  for  664 
inhabitants  from  1840  to  1842,  there  was  only  one 
for  3,109  inhabitants  from  1890  to  1892.  In  Scot- 
land it  had  decreased  from  one  for  902  inhabitants 
to  one  for  2,175  inhabitants;  in  Ireland,  from  one 
for  810  to  one  for  3,875  inhabitants;  and  in  the 
United  Kingdom,  from  one  to  722  inhabitants  to 
one  for  3,083.  The  ratio  of  improvement  in  En- 
gland and  Wales  was  4.68  fold  ;  in  Scotland,  2.41 
fold  ;  in  Ireland,  4.77  fold  ;  in  the  United  Kingdom, 
4.27  fold.  These  statistics  fully  justify  the  state- 
ment in  "  Whitaker's  London  Almanac"  for  1880, 


2/8      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

page  203,  that  "  the  criminal  element  is  happily  on 
the  decrease,  and  will  be  further  diminished  as  the 
lower  classes  become  better  educated." 

But  popular  education  promotes  general  morality. 
The  wide-spread  conviction  that  the  increase  of 
education  will  lead  to  a  decrease  of  crime  and  pau- 
perism is  susceptible  of  at  least  partial  demonstra- 
tion, from  the  following  statistics  of  England  and 
Wales,  which  show  an  encouraging  decrease  of  the 
pauper  population  since  1850,  and  vast  increase  in 
attendance  upon  the  public  schools. 

Paupers  of  all  Classes  in  England  and  Wales  Receiving 

Aid  "  In-doors  "  and  "Out-of-doors."* 
Average  yearly,  1850-1852,  871,953,  or  one  for  20.6  inhabitants. 
"  "         1860-1862,  895,869,         "  22.4  " 

"  "         1870-1872,  1,046,327,       "  21.7  " 

"  "        1880-1882,  816,887,         "  31-8 

"  "        1890-1892,  772,311.         "  37-4 

Here  is  evidence  of  an  actual  decrease  of  nearly 
99,642  paupers  since  1850,  while  the  population  in- 
creased about  10,974,916.  Instead  of  about  5  pau- 
pers in  every  100  persons  there  are  less  than  three. 

Similar  progress  has  been  made  in  the  education 
of  the  masses.  The  progress  of  popular  education 
in  Europe  and  America  is  one  of  the  brightest  indi- 
cations of  the  times.  Especially  does  it  appear  in 
an  interesting  light  in  connection  wath  the  diminu- 

*  See    the    "Financial    Reform    Almanac,"   and   other   English 
Almanacs. 


x> I .<^ a- E5. -A. 2^    TTi. 
Illustrating  Decuease  ok  I'aui'ekism  in  England  and  Wales. 


871,953  paupers. 


1850-52 


1860-62 


1870-72 


1880-82 


1890-92 


One  in  20.6  inhab's. 
Pop'n,  17,927,609. 


One  in  22.4  inhab's. 
Pop'n,  20,066,224. 


One  in  21.7  inhab's. 
Pop'n,  22,712,266. 


One  in  31.8  inhab's. 
Pop'n,  25,974,439. 


One  in  37.4  inhab's. 
Pop'n,  29,002,525. 


19 


Morals. 


279 


tion  of  high  crimes  in  England.  At  the  opening 
of  this  century  the  number  of  schools,  public  and 
private,  in  all  England,  numbered  only  3,363.  In 
18 18  it  was  found  that  one  half  of  the  children 
were  growing  up  without  an  education,  and  from 
one  third  to  one  half  the  candidates  for  marriage 
were  unable  to  sign  the  register.  In  1850  the 
schools  in  England,  of  all  kinds,  had  increased  to 
45,000;  but  these  were  almost  wholly  paid  schools. 
In  England  and  Wales  the  government  schools,  in 
1850,  numbered  only  1,844. 

The    following    table*    very    clearly    shows    the 
progress  since  1871  : 

Education,  Great  Britain,  1871  to  1892. 


Year. 

i 

E  c 
0  0 

V   "^ 
to  13 

Si 

Year. 

•d 
u 

ll 

0 

B 

£  c 
0  0 

V 

^^ 

<< 

^^ 

« 

1871 

11,465 

2,357,025 

1,547,195 

1882 

21,362 

5,^57,406 

3,436.416 

1S72 

I2,7i3|  2,665,157  1,651,425 

I&83 

21,630 

5,304.144 

3.560,351 

1873 

13,954  2,963,186:  1,783.740 

1884 

21,892 

5,482,410 

3,721,366 

1874 

15,671  3,344,071  1,985.394 

1885  21,976 

5,658,819 

3,826,980 

1875 

16,957  3,636,114  2,175,522 

1886  22,114 

5,836.697 

3,915,315 

1876 

17,787  3,946,7751  2,340,277 

1887  22,265  5-956,976 

4,019,116 

1877 

18,118  4,189.367'  2,511,096 

1888  22,326  6,043,851 

4,111,206 

1878 

19,291  4,505,818  2,782,454 

1889 

22,426  6,146,526 

4.185,725 

1879 

20,169  4,727,853  2,980,104 

1890 

22,495  6,254,150 

4,927.987 

1880 

20,670  4,842,807!  3.155.534 

189I 

22,613  6,360,936 

5,043,508 

1881 

21,136,  5,002,116!  3,273,501 

1892  22,543  6,429,485 

5,230,446 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  progress  is  remarkably 
uniform  and  steady,  indicating  a  movement  which 
cannot  fail  to   lift    up    the    average    population   in 

*  "  Whitaker's  Almanac,"  1894. 


28o      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


intelligence  and  character.  A  vast  improvement  is 
perceptible,  as  seen  in  the  growing  number  of  per- 
sons able  to  sign  their  names  to  the  marriage  register. 
The  "Statesman's  Year-Book  "  (1894)  furnishes  an 
impressive  table  indicating  the  percentage  of  persons 
married  in  England  and  Wales  who  signed  by  mark 
in  the  marriage  register  during  the  last  fifty  years. 
A  casual  glance  will  show  the  great  progress : 


Year. 

Males. 

Females. 

Year. 

Males. 

Females. 

i843.... 
1853.... 
1863.... 
i873---- 

32-7 
30.4 
23.8 
18.8 

49.0 
43-9 
33-1 
25-4 

1883.... 

1890 

189I 

12.6 
7.2 
6.4 

15-5 
8.3 
7-3 

Another  conserving  factor,  among  any  people, 
is  the  habit  of  pecuniary  savings  and  accumulations, 
which  is  of  special  significance  in  connection  with 
the  diminution  of  crime,  pauperism,  and  illiteracy. 
It  is  not  so  much  the  amounts  saved  as  the  num- 
ber of  individuals  who  open  and  maintain  accounts 
in  savings  institutions,  as  shown  by  the  following 
table,  from  "Whitaker's  Almanac,"  1894,  page  280: 

Savings  Banks — Trustee  and   Post  Office — Number  of  Ac- 
counts Open,  \\ 


Year. 

885. 
886. 


890. 
891. 
802. 


England 
and  Wales. 

5,494,989 
4,667,470 
4,872,736 
5.083,532 
5,303,989 
5-569.305 
5,802,990 
6,192,965 


Scotland. 

447.645 
457. 7S7 
474,793 
494,414 
519.299 
545,358 
563,830 
582,953 


5-1892. 

Ireland. 
188,013 
196,968 
208,842 

221,547 

235.815 
248,433 
261,352 
274,918 


United 
Kingdom. 

5,128,647 
5,322,315 

5,656,371 
5,800,473 
6,059,403 
6,363,096 
6,628,677 
6,964,236 


Morals.  281 

The  increase  is  in  all  parts  of  the  United  King- 
dom. 

Attempts  were  made  by  the  officers  of  United 
States  Census,  in  1850,  i860,  1870,  and  1880,  to 
gather  and  compile  the  statistics  of  pauperism  and 
crime,  but  without  satisfactory  success.  The  figures 
for  the  foregoing  dates  give  the  number  of  persons 
in  prison  and  in  the  almshouses,  a  summary  of  which 
we  give : 


In  Prisons. 

1850 6,737 

i860 ig,oS6 

1870 32,901 

1880 59.255 

1890 82,329 


In  Almshouses. 

1850 50,352 

i860 82,942 

1870 76,737 

1880 67,067 

1890 73,045 


Native  and  Foreign.* 

Of  i\\c  prisoners  for  1890,  58.81  per  cent,  are  of  foreign  elements. 
Of  the  paupers  for  1890,  58.44  per  cent,  are  of  foreign  elements. 

I  have  given  these  statistics  not  for  the  purpose 
of  inaking  deductions  from  them,  but  to  call  atten- 
tion to  some  of  the  difficulties  of  tabulating  such 
diita  in  the  United  States.  Referring  to  the  table 
for  1870,  General  F.  A,  Walker  .says  : 

Owing  to  the  fact  that  the  constitution  of  courts  of  record  in 
the  several  States  varies  greatly  as  to  the  crimes  over  which 
they  have  jurisdiction,  it  has  not  been  found  practicable  to  make 
this  table  strictly  one  of  convictions  for  crimes  by  courts  of 
record.  The  effort  has  been,  however,  to  make  the  returns  for 
each  State  an  equivalent  for  those  of  every  other,  and  the  results 

*  See  "Compendium  of  United  States  Census,"  1890. 


282      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

are  now  su!)mitted  with  the  remark  that  neither  the  statements 
of  crime  nor  those  of  pauperism  for  the  year  are  regarded  as 
possessing  any  high  degree  of  statistical  authority.  They  are 
believed,  however,  to  contain  a  very  much  larger  amount  of 
exact  and  of  approximate  information  than  it  is  in  the  power  of 
any  individual  or  of  any  other  public  agency  to  collect.  The 
numbers  reported  respectively  as  receiving  poor-support,  and 
as  in  prison  on  the  first  of  Jime,  1 870,  are  regarded  as  quite 
accurately  determined.  Errors  may  be  found  to  exist,  but  an 
extensive  correspondence  on  the  part  of  the  Census  Office  has 
established  their  substantial  accuracy  and  completeness. 

Hon.  F.  N.  Wines,  in  Census  of  1880,  says  : 

It  would  require  an  almost  unlimited  acquaintance  with  all 
sorts  of  local  conditions  and  usages  to  enable  us  to  say,  at  any 
stage  of  our  investigation,  that  we  have  now  succeeded  in  find- 
ing and  enumerating  all  known  paupers  in  the  United  States. 
The  figures  here  given  are  the  best  attainable  at  the  present 
time;  nothing  more  is  claimed  for  them. 

But  the  form  of  presenting  them  will,  it  is  hoped,  satisfy 
the  inquirer  that  the  figures  given  are  worthy  of  implicit  trust, 
so  far  as  they  go.  Whatever  fault  attaches  to  them  is  incom- 
pleteness rather  than  error.  As  they  are,  however,  compiled 
upon  a  different  principle  from  those  contained  in  the  census 
heretofore,  comparisons  founded  upon  them  will  be  apt  to  be 
misleading.  .  .  . 

The  census  of  prisoners  was  first  taken  in  1850.  The  num- 
ber then  returned  was  13,474.  In  i860  it  was  38,172;  in  1870, 
32,901,  (a  falling  off.)  In  1880,  as  stated,  it  was  59,255.  Un- 
fortunately, the  statistics  of  former  years  are  not  to  be  relied 
upon.  No  question  can  be  more  important  or,  rightly  consid- 
ered, of  greater  interest  than  whether  crime  is  increasing  more 
rapidly  than  it  should,  in  comparison  with  the  growth  of  the 
population  ;  but  it  cannot  be  answered  from  the  census  as  it 
has  been  taken  in  the  past.  It  has  been  customary  in  the 
census  to  include  a  column  for  the  number  of  persons  con- 


Morals.  283 

\  icted  during  the  twelve  months  immediately  preceding,  but 
I  he  extraordinar)'  variations  in  the  figures  returned  from  one 
census  to  another  wholly  discredit  them. 

The  statistics  of  crime  in  the  United  States  are 
so  faulty  and  fragmentary,  covering  periods  of 
such  brief  duration,  or  gathered  and  arranged  in 
plans  so  diverse,  as  not  to  afford  a  satisfactory  basis 
for  a  just  comparison.  But  great  improvement  is 
being  made.  The  statistics  .of  crime  in  Massachu- 
setts, published  in  1880,*  are  the  best  specimens 
of  this  advance.  They  show  a  great  increase  of 
crime  after  the  close  of  the  civil  war.  The  sen- 
tences for  crime  went  up  from  17,276  in  1865,  to 
46,132  in  1873,  when  it  reached  its  maximum,  since 
which  time  it  declined  to  28,149  in  1879.  These 
figures  for  1879  show  that  the  bulk  of  crime,  as  in- 
dicated by  sentences,  has  increased  70.4  per  cent, 
since  i860,  while  the  population  has  increased  50.4 
per  cent.,  or  20  per  cent,  more  than  the  increase  of 
the  population.  But,  examining  these  statistics,  we 
find  that  out  of  28,149,  the  total  sentences  in  1879, 
direct  rum-crimes  occasioned  16,871  ;  minor  crimes, 
10,662  ;  and  felonies  and  aggravated  crimes,  but  616. 
The  latter  class  furnished  505  in  i860.  While  the 
population,  from  i860  to  1879,  increased  50.4  per 
cent.,  general  crime,  eliminating  all  direct  rum- 
crimes,  increased   but  20.1    per    cent.     The    liquor 

*  Report  of  Hon.  Carroll  D.  Wright,  cliief  of  the  Bureau  of  Sta- 
tistics of  Labor  in  Massachusetts,  January,   iSSo. 


284      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

offenses  have  fluctuated  according  to  the  raids  of 
executive  officers,  in  obedience  to  the  prevailing 
sentiments  of  the  administration  or  the  require- 
ments of  existing  laws.  But  the  prosecution  of 
high  crimes  depends  upon  steady,  settled  princi- 
ples of  government.  The  whole  number  of  sen- 
tences for  the  crimes  of  murder  and  manslaughter 
for  the  twenty  years  was  1 10,  an  average  of  five 
and  a  half  per  year.  These  crimes  have  not  kept 
pace  with  the  population.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
whole  body  of  high  crimes.  While  they  have  "  in- 
creased in  a  deplorable  degree,"  they  have  not 
kept  pace  with  the  population,  this  class  of  sen- 
tences increasing  39.5  per  cent.,  and  the  popula- 
tion 50.4. 

The  foregoing  conclusions  are  ably  demonstrated 
by  Hon.  Carroll  D.  Wright,  in  his  last  "  Report 
of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor  to  the  Legis- 
lature of  Massachusetts,"  (January,  1880.)  He  pro- 
ceeds further  to  show  the  prison  population  of  the 
State  of  Massachusetts,  from  i860  to  1880,  increased 
47.7  per  cent.,  or  2.7  per  cent,  less  than  the  whole 
population,  and  adds:  "This  analysis  would  be 
quite  crude  without  understanding  the  effects  of 
legislation  upon  criminal  statistics.  It  should  not 
for  a  moment  be  supposed,  because  the  tables  show 
a  decided  increase  in  the  number  of  sentences  for 
any  year,  that  more  crime  existed  during  that  year ; 
as,  for  instance,  that,  because  drunkenness,  as  repre- 


Morals.  285 

sented  by  sentences,  reached  an  increase  of  276.4 
per  cent,  in  1873  over  the  number  for  i860,  that 
much  more  drunkenness  occurred  in  1873  than  in 
i860.  The  cause  is  to  be  found  either  in  legislation 
or  public  sentiment,  which  caused  a  more  vigilant 
prosecution  of  offenders." 

The  care  of  orphans  is  receiving,  both  in  England 
and  America,  increased  attention,  not  only  as  a 
philanthropic  measure,  but  also  as  a  wise  provision 
of  political  economy — a  means  of  reducing  the 
amount  of  crime.  From  orphanage  and  pauperism 
come  crime.  Statistics  show  that  a  large  part  of 
the  criminals  were  first  destitute  orphans,  driven  to 
crime  by  want  and  neglect.  Delinquent  and  desti- 
tute children  become  petty  thieves  or  beggars,  and 
thus  ripen  into  a  harvest  of  crime.  The  recent  mul- 
tiplication of  institutions  for  orphans  and  the  des- 
titute has  improved  morals  and  public  security  ;  and 
the  future  will,  doubtless,  bring  still  greater  benefits. 

It  is  not  easy  to  gauge  the  extent  and  conditions 
of  crime  in  a  country  so  constituted  as  our  own. 
'  Many  attempts  have  been  made  with  indifferent 
success,  since  what  is  asserted  by  one  person  is 
immediately  denied  by  another.  One  sociologist 
says  the  masses  are  growing  worse  and  criminals 
are  rapidly  multiplying,  and  another  sociologist 
equally  eminent  asserts  the  contrary.  So  also  pul- 
piteers, statesmen,  chiefs  of  police,  and  editors  give 
confused  and  contradictory  opinions. 


286      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

But  "how  about  the  morals  of  our  public  men?" 
Of  course,  there  are  many  bad  examples  among 
them  ;  but  the  late  Judge  Miller,  one  of  the  ablest 
and  best  public  men  of  the  period,  told  us,  be- 
fore his  death,  that  "  nobody,  save  one  who  had 
lived  for  a  generation,  like  himself,  in  Washing- 
ton, could  appreciate  the  immense  improvement 
of  the  personal  character  and  moral  influence 
of  the  great  body  of  public  men  within  that 
period." 

Enterprising  newspapers  have  sent  out  schedules 
of  inquiries  to  officials  and  public  men  of  all  classes 
with  far  from  satisfactory  results.  Some  large  cities 
are  depicted  in  very  dark  colors,  and  even  then,  it 
is  said,  "  the  whole  truth  is  not  told.  Every  man 
about  town,  every  reporter,  and  every  civil  officer 
could  tell  much  more.  Printed  reports  tell  what 
occurs  on  the  streets ;  but,  behind  closed  doors,  are 
all  sorts  and  conditions  of  crime  which,  if  flaunted 
before  the  public,  would  produce  startling  sensa- 
tions.' 

Gather  what  data  we  can,  then  boil  down  the 
facts,  discriminate  carefully  the  figures,  balance  the 
opinions,  and  we  cannot  resist  the  conviction,  that 
in  many  large  cities  crime  is  either  increasing  or  at 
least  holding  its  own ;  that  prostitution,  public  or 
private,  is  at  least  not  much  if  at  all  diminished  ; 
that  drunkenness  among  women  has  increased  ;  that 
the  women  produce  a  large  proportion  of  criminals, 


Morals.  287 

and  many  the  hardest  and  least  susceptible  of  refor- 
mation ;  that  the  most  intelligent  classes  produce 
the  most  cunning  criminals,  showing  that  crime  has 
other  causes  than  ignorance. 

An  editorial  in  the  "  Independent  "  (October, 
1893)  said  : 

If  we  are  told  that  there  is  more  crime  in  the  big  New  York 
of  to-day  than  there  was  in  the  Uttle  New  York  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  century  we  reply  by  comparing  the  London  of  to-day 
with  the  London  of  that  time.  Laws  are  better  obeyed,  pubUc 
morality  is  better  observed,  crimes  against  the  purity  of  the 
home  or  the  sanctity  of  the  person  are  more  disgraceful  now 
than  then.  The  public  conscience  treats  hcentiousness  or 
slavery  or  intemperance  much  more  severely  than  it  did  then. 
It  is  a  shame  now  to  get  drunk  ;  it  was  not  then.  It  is  illegal 
now  to  hold  slaves;  it  was  not  then.  An  Aaron  Burr  now 
could  not  find  an  entrance  into  polite  society.  During  these 
fifty  years  the  public  conscience  has  been  awakened  to  its  duty 
to  the  public,  and  good  people  of  every  religious  name  are 
banded  together  to  repress  injustice  and  wrong.  Our  halls  of 
legislation  are  purer  than  they  used  to  be.  A  smirch  on  a 
man's  name  such  as  would  not  be  considered  at  the  beginning 
of  the  century,  now  drives  him  into  retirement. 

I  think  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  there  is  less 
crime  and  flagrant  badness  in  San  Francisco  than 
thirty  or  forty  years  ago ;  and  so,  all  along  the 
Pacific  coast  cities  and  far  back  on  the  Western 
frontiers.  In  Tucson,  Albuquerque,  Reno,  Carson 
City,  the  cities  and  rural  sections  of  Colorado,  Utah, 
Idaho,  Montana,  the  Dakotas,  Nebraska,  Minnesota, 
Wisconsin,  and   many  other  localities   which   need 


288      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

not  be  mentioned,  intelligent,  discriminating  ob- 
servers think  the  condition  in  respect  to  crime 
and  barbarism  has  materially  improved,  as  com- 
pared with  former  periods,  however  bad  they  may 
now  seem. 

New  Orleans  and  some  other  Southern  cities  may 
doubtless  be  added  to  the  foregoing  list.  Rev. 
A.  D,  Mayo,  D.D.,  who  has  spent  the  greater  part 
of  the  last  fifteen  years  traveling  in  the  South,  in 
the  interest  of  education,  says: 

I  doubt  if  there  were  ever  in  New  Orleans  any  ten  thousand 
men  and  women  so  thoroughly  determined  to  make  that  city 
the  worthy  metropolis  of  the  Southwest  in  all  the  ways  char- 
acteristic of  the  higher  Christian  civilization,  than  I  find  there 
to-day.  I  am  sure  a  larger  proportion  of  influential  Southern 
men  are  living  temperate,  moral,  manly  lives  in  1890  than  in 
1850;  and  I  shall  need  more  light  than  at  present  to  be  con- 
vinced that  the  corresponding  class  of  women,  whom  I  find  at 
work  in  every  Southern  community  for  the  general  uplift  of 
society,  was  ever  surpassed  in  the  South  of  a  generation  ago. 

No  one  will  question  Rev.  Edward  Everett  Hale's 
breadth  of  observation,  high  moral  stand-point,  and 
ability  to  clearly  discriminate  facts.  He  wisely  says, 
("  Independent,"  October  5,  1893  :) 

Vice  is  not  crime.  But  the  amount  of  crime  ought  to  be  an 
index,  to  a  certain  extent,  of  the  amount  of  vice.  Unfortunately, 
statistics  are  impossible  which  will  compare  precisely  the  amount 
of  crime  recognized  by  law,  with  that  so  recognized  fifty  or  a 
hundred  or  two  hundred  years  ago. 

But  statistics  show  something.    They  show,  in  Great  Britain, 


Morals.  289 

a  steady  diminution  of  the  nunit)er  of  prisoners,  in  a  country 
which  is  more  and  more  watchful  in  its  punisiiment  of  crime. 
It  is  easy  to  say  that  the  criminal  classes  are  transported  to 
America,  and  the  English  prisons  thus  emptied.  This  is  true ; 
but  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  the  transportation  accounts 
for  all  the  improvement.  My  own  opinion  is  formed  after  as 
careful  study  as  I  know  how  to  give.  I  am  quite  aware  that 
the  reports  do  not  enable  one  to  speak  confidently.  But  my 
strong  impression  is  that  any  apparent  increase  of  crime  is  due 
to  the  increase  of  civilization — to  the  increased  severity  of  law, 
and  to  the  increase,  therefore,  of  arrests.  For  instance,  a  hun- 
dred years  ago,  drunkards  hardly  appeared  among  prisoners, 
in  a  world  where  most  men  were  drunk.  Now  every  prison 
returns  "drunkards,"  who  are  guilty  of  no  crime  but  intemper- 
ance. I  believe  that  the  experts  most  skilled  will  say  that  the 
real  amount  of  crime,  known  to  the  law,  is  less  than  it  was  a 
hundred  years  ago. 

We  should  not  neglect  to  say  that,  in  the  bright- 
ening light  and  the  higher  standards  of  morality  of 
these  days  evil  stands  out  clearer  and  more  repel- 
lant ;  and  that  resistance  to  greater  light  inevitably 
drives  men  to  more  desperate  crimes.  The  striking 
declaration  of  St.  Paul,  (2  Tim.  iii,  13,)  that  "evil  men 
and  seducers  shall  wax  worse  and  worse,  deceiving, 
and  being  deceived,"  will  doubtless  be  more  and 
more  illustrated  as  the  ages  roll  on,  and  the  bright- 
est millennial  periods  will  be  attended  with  ranker 
and  more  hideous  developments  of  evil.  In  evil 
there  inheres  a  law  of  retributive  and  judicial  blind- 
ing and  hardening,  under  which  men  intent  upon 
sin  become  more  desperate  and  reckless,  even  under 
increasing  light. 


290      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Said  an  eminent  Unitarian  divine  :* 

It  is  a  terrible  fact  that  tiie  higher  and  richer  a  man's  op- 
portunities are,  the  more  hardening  and  deadening,  if  not  im- 
proved aright,  is  their  influence  on  the  character.  It  is  in  the 
midst  of  Christian  lands,  in  the  full  light  of  the  Gospel,  that  we 
find  the  worst  crimes,  the  most  hardened  unrepentant  criminals. 
The  world  has  never  had  such  irreversible  skeptics  and  unbe- 
lievers as  some  of  the  men  who  stood  in  the  very  presence  of 
Christ,  seeing  his  miracles,  hearing  with  their  own  ears  his 
words  of  wisdom.  .  .  .  You  cannot  increase  a  sinner's  means 
of  salvation  without  increasing  at  the  same  time  his  means  of 
deeper  damnation.  .  .  .  There  are  some  phenomena  of  sin 
which  are  absolutely  horrible,  more  so  than  anything  that  was 
ever  painted  in  the  most  lurid  hill.  When  its  fangs  are  once 
fastened  thoroughly  on  the  spirit,  it  seems,  like  bodily  disease, 
to  have  a  life  of  itself.  It  feeds,  grows,  unfolds  itself,  displays 
a  will  of  its  own,  becomes  a  live,  hissing,  writhing  serpent. 

May  it  not  be  so  with  some  of  the  great  evils 
which  now  threaten  and  are  destined  long  to 
threaten  our  large  municipalities,  even  while  the 
pathways  of  human  progress,  as  a  whole,  may 
brighten  and  widen. 

*  Rev.  J.  C.  Kimball,  in  the  "  Religious  Monthly  Magazine,"  1867, 
P-  343- 


CHAPTER  III. 
THE    PRESENT    PERIOD. 

(CONTINUED.) 

Intemperance.  The  Anarchistic  Spirit. 

Dueling.  Philanthropic  Agencies. 

English  Morals.  Penal  Inflictions. 

New  England  Morals.  Machinery     and     Moral     and 
Irreverence,   etc.  Social  Progress. 

Pauperism.  The  Peril  of  the  Cities. 

The  Economic  View.  Criticisms  and  Testimonies. 
Longevity  and  Sanitary  Science. 


Morals.  293 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  PRESENT  PERIOD.— (CONTINUED.) 
Intemperance. 

THE  vice  of  intemperance,  so  conspicuous  during 
the  closing  quarter  of  the  last  century,  wrought 
with  increasing  malignity,  until  it  reached  its  cul- 
mination in  the  year  1825.  The  average  annual 
consumption  of  distilled  spirits  and  wine,  but  chiefly 
distilled  liquors,  (no  account  being  made  of  beer, 
ale,  etc.,)  in  1790,  was  two  and  a  half  gallons  per 
capita  ;  in  18 10  it  had  increased  to  four  and  a  half 
gallons  ;  *  in  1823  to  seven  and  a  half  gallons  f  for 
distilled  spirits  alone  ;  and  in  1830,  after  four  years 
of  vigorous  temperance  work,:J:  it  was  six  gallons,  or 
a  half  a  gill  daily  for  every  inhabitant  of  all  ages 
and  conditions.  At  the  latter  date  there  were 
400,000  confirmed  drunkards  in  the  land,  "  not  in- 
cluding those  in  some  stage  of  progress  toward  the 
fixed  habit,"  or  one  for  every  thirty  inhabitants. 

*  Statistics  prepared  by  Hon.  Samuel  Dexter,  LL.D.  See  "Re- 
port of  the  Massachusetts  Society  for  the  Suppression.of  Intemper- 
ance," 1 8 14. 

\  "  Boston  Recorder." 

X  The  American  Temperance  Society  was  organized  in  January, 
1826. 

20 


294       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

A  writer  in  the  old  "  American  Cyclopedia,"  pub- 
lished in  1830,*  gives  the  following  account  of  the 
drinking  customs  of  this  early  period,  in  the  light 
of  which  we  cannot  fail  to  see  the  great  moral  prog- 
ress that  has  since  been  made  : 

"  The  men  now  upon  the  stage  remember,  from 
their  childhood  till  within  the  last  ten  years,  to  have 
seen  distilled  spirits,  in  some  form,  a  universal  pro- 
vision for  the  table,  at  the  principal  repast,  through- 
out this  country.  The  richer  sort  drank  French 
and  Spanish  brandy  ;  the  poorer,  West  India,  and 
the  poorest.  New  England,  rum.  In  the  Southern 
States  whisky  was  the  favorite  liquor ;  and  the 
somewhat  less  common  articles  of  foreign  and  do- 
mestic gin,  apple  brandy,  and  peach  brandy,  made 
a  variety  which  recommended  itself  to  the  variety 
of  individual  tastes.  Commonly  at  meals,  and  at 
other  times  by  laborers,  particularly  in  the  middle 
of  the  forenoon  and  afternoon,  these  substances 
were  taken,  simply  diluted  with  more  or  less  water. 
On  other  occasions  they  made  a  part  of  more  or  less 
artificial  compounds,  in  which  fruit  of  various  kinds, 
eggs,  spices,  herbs,  and  sugar,  were  the  leading  in- 
gredients. 

"  A  fashion  at  the  South  was  to  take  a  glass  of 
whisky,  flavored  with  mint,  soon  after  waking  ;  and 
so  conducive  to  health  was  this  nostrum  esteemed, 
that  no  sex  and  scarcely  any  age  were  deemed  ex- 

*  Article,  "  Temperance  Societies." 


Morals.  295 

empt  from  its  application.  At  eleven  o'clock,  while 
mixtures  under  various  peculiar  names — sling,  tod- 
dy, flip,  etc. — solicited  the  appetite  at  the  bar  of 
the  common  tippHng-shop,  the  offices  of  the  pro- 
fessional men  and  the  counting-room  dismissed 
their  occupants  for  a  half  hour  to  regale  themselves 
at  a  neighbor's  or  a  coffee-house  with  punch,  hot 
or  iced,  according  to  the  season  ;  and  females  and 
valetudinarians  courted  an  appetite  with  medicated 
rum,  disguised  under  the  chaste  names  of  Huxams 
Tincture  or  Stoughton  s  Elixir. 

"  The  dinner  hour  arrived,  according  to  the  dif- 
ferent customs  of  different  districts  of  the  country, 
whisky  and  water,  curiously  flavored  with  apples, 
or  brandy  and  water,  introduced  the  feast ;  whisky, 
or  brandy  and  water,  helped  it  through  ;  and  whisky 
or  brandy,  without  water,  often  secured  its  safe  di- 
gestion, not  again  to  be  used  in  any  more  formal 
manner  than  for  the  relief  of  occasional  thirst,  or  for 
the  entertainment  of  a  friend,  until  the  last  appeal 
should  be  made  to  them  to  secure  a  sound  night's 
sleep.  Rum,  seasoned  with  cherries,  protected 
against  the  cold  ;  rum,  made  astringent  with  peach- 
nuts  concluded  the  repast  at  the  confectioner's ; 
rum.  made  nutritious  with  milk,  prepared  for  the 
maternal  office  ;  and,  under  the  Greek  name  of  par- 
egoric, rum,  doubly  poisoned  with  opium,  quieted 
the  infant's  cries. 

"  No  doubt  there  were  numbers  who  did  not  use 


296       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

ardent  spirits,  but  it  was  not  because  they  were  not 
perpetually  in  their  way.  They  were  an  established 
article  of  diet,  almost  as  much  as  bread  ;  and  with 
very  many  they  were  in  much  more  frequent  use. 
The  friend  who  did  not  testify  his  welcome  with 
them,  and  the  master  who  did  not  provide  bounti- 
fully of  them  for  his  servants,  were  held  niggardly ; 
and  there  was  no  social  meeting,  not  even  of  the 
most  formal  or  sacred  kind,  where  it  was  considered 
indecorous,  scarcely  any  where  it  was  not  thought 
necessary,  to  produce  them.  The  consequence  was, 
that  what  the  great  majority  used  without  scruple 
large  numbers  indulged  in  without  restraint.  Sots 
were  common  of  both  sexes,  various  ages,  and  all 
conditions  ;  and,  though  no  statistics  of  the  vice 
were  yet  embodied,  it  was  quite  plain  that  it  was 
constantly  making  large  numbers  bankrupt  in 
property,  character,  and  prospects,  and  inflicting 
upon  the  community  a  vast  amount  of  physical  and 
moral  ill  in  their  worst  forms." 

Such  is  the  description,  by  an  able  writer  living 
in  those  times,  of  the  social  drinking  customs  in 
the  period  when  intemperance  reached  its  culmina- 
tion in  America.  In  England  the  evil  was  not  less 
rampant.  It  infested  all  circles,  and  became  espe- 
cially a  social  vice.  It  was  deemed  indispensable  that 
visitors  should  evince  their  appreciation  of  the  hospi- 
tality they  received  by  becoming  intoxicated.  The 
host  claimed  it  as  his  due  that  every  guest  should 


Morals.  297 

drink  until  he  could  drink  no  longer.  "  The  supreme 
crowning  evidence  that  an  entertainment  had  been 
successful  was  not  given  till  the  guests  dropped, 
one  by  one,  from  their  chairs  to  slumber  peacefully 
on  the  floor  till  the  servants  removed  them."  The 
worst  phases  of  society,  in  our  day,  in  either  countrj', 
fail  to  parallel  the  general  habits  then. 

From  1808  to  181 5  a  few  beginnings  were  made, 
in  various  localities  in  the  United  States,  in  the  di- 
rection of  reform,  with  meager  results.  The  organi- 
zation of  the  American  Temperance  Society,  in  1826, 
inaugurated  more  thorough,  energetic,  and  far-reach- 
ing efforts,  and,  for  thirty  years,  the  Temperance 
Reformation  was  one  of  the  most  mighty  and  ex- 
tensive movements  in  the  nation.  The  moral  ren- 
ovation was  incalculable.  The  average  annual  con- 
sumption of  distilled  and  fermented  spirits,  beer  and 
ale  excepted,  declined  from  seven  and  a  half  gallons 
in  1823,  to  two  and  one  fifth  gallons  in  1850. 

Intemperance  was,  however,  still  a  great  evil,  of 
immense  power  and  sway,  and  its  desolations  were 
fearful.  In  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  in  the  year 
1849,  of  2,598  paupers,  1,467,  or  56  per  cent.,  and  of 
8,760  committed  for  crime,  3,341,  or  more  than  38 
per  cent.,  resulted  from  intemperance.  In  the  city 
of  New  York,  in  the  same  year,  there  were  4,425 
licensed  houses,  750  selling  without  license,  and 
3,896  selling  on  the  Sabbath.  In  a  single  quarter 
1,600  persons  were  arrested  for  drunkenness,   1,485 


298       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

for  intoxication  and  disorderly  conduct,  744  for 
vagrancy,  1,214  ^or  assault  and  battery,  and  1,006 
for  disorderly  conduct,  besides  more  serious  crimes. 
In  Philadelphia,  in  1849,  there  were  admitted  to  the 
alms-house  5,119,  of  whom  2,323  were  intoxicated 
when  received;  and  in  the  mayor's  court  5,987  per- 
sons were  under  arrest  for  drunkenness  and  disor- 
derly conduct,  and  only  324  for  other  crimes.  In 
the  State  of  New  York,  in  1849,  3^>6io  persons  were 
committed  for  crimes  perpetrated  under  the  influ- 
ence of  intoxicating  liquors,  and  69,260  were  in  the 
poor-houses  from  intemperance. 

Between  1850  and  1855  "The  Maine  Law"  was 
enacted  in  about  a  dozen  States.  For  a  time  it  was 
faithfully  executed,  with  splendid  results.  Large 
numbers  of  towns,  chiefly  rural,  were  almost  wholly 
rid  of  the  evil  of  intemperance.  So  clear  and  bene- 
ficial was  the  influence  in  Massachusetts,  that  Gov- 
ernor Briggs,  only  a  short  time  after  the  adoption 
of  the  law,  declared  that  it  had  already  been  worth 
one  hundred  millions  of  dollars  to  that  State  alone. 
This  was  the  period  of  the  best  temperance  habits 
in  the  United  States. 

After  that  time  a  great  abatement  in  temperance 
efforts  was  apparent,  seemingly  under  the  false  con- 
viction that  the  battle  had  been  fought,  and  that  the 
enactment  of  stringent  laws,  entirely  prohibiting  the 
sale  of  liquors  as  a  beverage,  had  put  a  final  stop  to 
the   evil  of  intemperance.     But  "while  men  slept, 


Morals.  299 

the  enemy  sowed  tares ;"  and  a  reverse  movement 
took  place  in  New  England  under  the  leadership 
of  ex-Governor  John  A.  Andrew,  Dr.  Bowditch,  and 
others,  and  extending  into  other  States,  in  regard  to 
total  abstinence  and  prohibition.  Many  persons 
abandoned  those  principles  as  extreme  and  imprac- 
ticable, and  the  "  Maine  Laws "  were  repealed  in 
nearly  all  of  the  States  in  which  they  had  been  en- 
acted. Other  causes  of  the  reverse  movement  were 
the  incoming  of  large  hordes  of  immigrants  who  had 
never  received  the  temperance  tutelage  to  which 
our  native  population  had  been  subjected,  and  the 
introduction  of  malt  liquors  in  large  quantities.  For 
a  fuller  explanation  of  this  reverse  movement  the 
reader  is  referred  to  the  author's  volume,  "  The 
Liquor  Problem  in  All  Ages,"  (Phillips  &  Hunt, 
New  York  city,)  pp.  390-410.  .  After  1872  the 
Anti-saloon  Crusades,  the  Woman's  Christian  Tem- 
perance Union,  and  other  movements  originated, 
which  advanced  the  cause  of  temperance  to  within 
a  few  years.  We  are  now  in  a  period  of  compara- 
tive inaction — or  at  least  of  cessation  of  marked 
progress. 

Tables  of  statistics,  representing  the  consumption 
of  alcoholic  liquors  from  1810  to  1893,  will  be  found 
in  the  Appendix,  pp.  711,  712. 

These  tables  show  that  the  consumption  of  dis- 
tilled spirits,  domestic  and  foreign,  has  declined  from 
7.26  gallons  per  capita  in   1820,  to  6.02  gallons  in 


1840 


1850 


1860 


ID  I -A.  <3- 1^ -A.  lv<E      I2C 

Illustrai  iN<;   riiE   Grkat  Increase  in  the  Consump- 
tion OF  Beer  in  hie  United  Staies. 


Per  Capita  Conslmmion. 

1S40 1-36  gallons. 

1S50 I  .61 

1S60 3.27 

1S70   5-31 

iSSo S.26 

1S90 iS-fJ?       " 

1893 16. oS       " 

See  full  tables  in  the  Appendix. 

An  exact  proportion  is  kept 
between  the  population  and  the 
beer  in  the  lines  of  this  diagram. 


1,074,546,336  gallons  in  year  ending  June  30,  1893. 


Morals.  301 

his  day,  by  a  fraternity  of  chemical  operators,  in 
dens  under  the  streets  of  London. 

A  leading  journalist  said  :  "  Intemperance  is  no 
longer  tolerated  in  good  society.  It  is  no  longer 
tolerated  in  business  circles.  A  young  man  knows 
that  he  stands  no  chance  of  success  in  life  if  he  is 
addicted  to  the  use  of  strong  drinks ;  and,  what  is  a 
still  stronger  provocative  of  temperance,  the  youth 
of  our  country  know  that  life  is  sacrificed  by  the 
use  of  spirits,  and  that  length  of  days  and  a  vigorous 
old  age  are  not  boons  which  can  be  expected  by 
those  who  violate  the  laws  of  health.  This  great 
change  has  been  brought  about  by  that  enlightened 
public  sentiment  which  prevails,  and  this  feeling  is 
increasing." 

The  aspect  of  most  rural  towns  in  respect  to  tem- 
perance is  encouraging.  Not  a  tithe  of  intemper- 
ance exists  as  compared  with  fifty  years  and  more 
ago.  Maine  retains  her  famous  law,  and  a  high 
authority  says  there  are  few  open  bars  in  the  State — 
outside  of  a  few  cities  with  a  large  foreign  popula- 
tion— a  great  gain  upon  former  times.  In  1832  there 
was  one  for  every  225  persons.  The  Maine  Law  is 
so  far  sustained  that  in  1884  a  constitutional  pro- 
hibitory amendment  was  adopted  by  a  large  popular 
vote. 

Our  adopted  fellow-citizens,  who  in  large  num- 
bers have  come  among  us,  settling  chiefly  in  large 
centers  of  population,  have  given  a  more  unfavor- 


302      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

able  aspect  to  society  in  respect  to  drunkenness. 
But  even  this  class  is  coming  to  learn  the  necessity 
and  value  of  abstinence,  and  is  organizing  for  the 
promotion  of  this  virtue.  They  are  already  en- 
rolled in  large  numbers  as  abstainers  from  alcoholic 
liquors.  The  Catholic  Total  Abstinence  Union  held 
its  twenty-third  session  in  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  in 
1894,  at  which  delegates  were  present  representing 
727  Catholic  Temperance  Societies,  and  a  member- 
ship of  54,676. 

The  decline  in  the  consumption  of  the  more  fiery 
drinks  is  a  fact  attested  by  the  daily  observation  of 
men  whose  personal  knowledge  extends  back  thirty 
or  forty  or  fifty  years.  The  great  reformatory  move- 
ments from  1872  to  1876,  under  the  "Crusaders," 
the  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union,  Dr.  Rey- 
nolds, Francis  Murphy,  and  his  son,  introducing 
a  more  positive  religious  element  into  this  depart- 
ment of  effort,  greatly  improved  many  localities,  and 
placed  the  virtue  of  temperance  on  purely  moral 
grounds. 

But  a  reaction  has  followed,  carrying  back  to 
their  cups  many  reformed  men  ;  and  the  general  in- 
troduction of  beer  into  common  life,  within  thirty 
years,  has  led  many  young  men  and  women  down- 
ward in  intemperance.  There  is  reason  to  believe 
that  the  free  use  of  beer,  which  was  advocated  on 
moral  grounds,  as  a  means  of  decreasing  drunken- 
ness, has  already  proved  the  means  of  more  ex- 


Showing  Consumption  dk  Lhjldks  in  thk  British   Isles 

The  same  scale  is  u^ed  in  both  i;ase> 
For  full  table  see  Appendix. 


Wines. 


0.23\gal.  per  capita 


Distilled  Spirits, 


1871 


1876 


1871 


1876 


1881 


1.05  gal.  per/capita 


iSmI  0-98  ga' 


Morals.  303 

tended  intemperance  and  ruin,  as  it  did  in  England 
after  the  enactment  of  the  celebrated  "  Beer  Act," 
some  years  ago. 

In  the  British  Isles  intemperance  is  still  an  evil 
of  enormous  dimensions,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  elab- 
orate tables  in  the  Appendix,  (p.  723,)  to  which  the 
reader  is  referred.  A  careful  inspection  of  those 
tables  will  be  more  convincing  than  any  general 
discursive  talk  can  possibly  be,  as  to  the  condition 
of  Great  Britain  in  respect  to  temperance  and 
sobriety.  Since  185 1  there  has  been  very  little 
variation  in  the  average  per  capita  consumption  of 
the  various  kinds  of  liquors  : 

The  average  of  wine  has  been    0.40  gallons  per  capita. 
"         "       "    spirits  "       "      1.04       "         "         " 
i.         ..       ..    i^ggr      ..       ..     2S.4        "         "         " 

During  the  last  twelve  years  the  total  annual  cost 
of  all  kinds  of  liquors  has  thus  been  i^  1 30,000,000,  or 
about  two  thirds  of  a  billion  of  dollars,  yearly.  This 
represents  a  prolific  cause  of  pauperism,  crime,  gen- 
eral degradation,  and  misery. 

Since  the  year  1831  large  efforts  have  been  made 
in  the  United  Kingdom  by  numerous  societies, 
in  the  churches  and  outside  of  them,  to  promote 
temperance  and  to  counteract  the  drinking  cus- 
toms ;  but  the  tide  of  evil  still  rolls  on.  What 
would  have  been  the  condition  if  these  efforts  had 


304      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

not  been  made,  it  is  impossible  to  conjecture. 
Certain  we  are  that  large  masses  of  people,  formerly 
accustomed  to  use  liquor,  have  become  total  ab- 
stainers, and  maintain  that  attitude  consistently 
and  firmly. 

There  is  a  large  fruitage  for  these  many  years  of 
temperance  labors.  Notably  is  it  the  case  in  the 
upper  and  middle  classes  of  society,  where  the  al- 
tered habits  are  matters  of  frequent  observation. 
The  customs  of  large  houses  of  providing  for  the 
profuse  distribution  of  intoxicants  to  servants  and 
strangers  are  giving  way.  So  also  are  the  social 
customs  of  commercial  travelers  and  country  vil- 
lagers changing.  There  is  abundant  evidence  of 
the  growth  of  a  new  public  opinion  seen  in  the  al- 
tered tone  in  which  intemperance  is  spoken  of,  and 
in  the  increasing  number  of  young  people  entering 
into  life  as  pledged  abstainers,  with  a  deep  horror  of 
the  evil  of  drunkenness.  The  formation  of  18,400 
Juvenile  Temperance  Societies,  with  2,617,000 
members,  pledged  to  abstinence,  attending  700,000 
meetings  in  a  year,  at  which  sound  teaching  respect- 
ing the  nature  and  effects  of  alcohol  is  imparted,  is 
a  great  omen  for  good.  Numerous  organizations 
for  sailors,  railroad  employees,  and  other  laborers, 
and  counteractive  agencies,  institutes,  clubs,  cocoa 
houses,  and  coffee  taverns,  (285  in  one  diocese,) 
afford  further  hope  and  assurance  for  improvement 
in  the  future. 


xi  I  .A.  C3- xe -A.  i«£    zazx. 

SnuwiNc   iHE  Consumption  »)K  Mali    Liouoks  in   ihk 
British  Isles. 

See  tables  in  Appemii.x. 

So  enormous  is  the  consumption  of  these  liquors  that  the  scale  used  in 
the  previous  diagram  had  to  be  reduced  to  a  point  one  sixteenth  as  large. 


Total 

Gallons 

gallons. 

per  capita 

I85I.. 

•  •     ^'39.323. 9^'/ 

22.9 

I86I.. 

.      775,171,584 

26.9 

I87I. . 

■      995.746,374 

312 

1876.. 

.1,113,448,754 

34.6 

I88I.. 

.      970,788,564 

~~  ■  5 

1886.. 

976,828,104 

26.6 

1893.. 

•  -1.137.396,600 

29.6 

x;  I -A.  (3- 1^ -A.  iv£    2CII. 
l.iiUDU  Bill  of  thk  UNriKn  Ki.\(;i)()M  fdk  Twe.n  iy  Vkars. 


Liquors  in 
20  Years. 


Exports. 

British  Products, 

10  Years. 


Debt  of 

Great   Britain, 

1893. 


£2,388,381,888.  £2.181,011,959. 


£671,642.842. 


Morals.  305 

On  the  continent  of  Europe  a  bird's-eye  view 
shows  signs  of  awakening  and  earnest  effort  against 
the  drink  evik  In  the  darkest  portions  of  the  con- 
tinent longings  for  a  better  state  of  things  are 
apparent.  For  a  long  time  in  the  North  the  Hght 
has  been  shining,  and  many  noble  souls  arc  wide 
awake,  though  even  in  Norway  and  Sweden  much 
remains  to  be  done.  The  so-called  Gothenburg 
system,  from  which  so  much  was  expected,  has  not 
proved  sufficient,  and  spirit-drinking  is  on  the  in- 
crease. 

In  Sweden  the  temperance  cause  progresses,  and 
quite  a  number  of  total  abstainers  in  tiie  Parliament 
are  making  their  influence  felt.  The  king  has  lately 
sanctioned  a  law  making  the  teaching  of  the  physi- 
ological effects  of  alcohol  mandatory  upon  schools 
and  seminaries. 

In  Iceland  the  bishop  and  a  third  part  of  the 
clergy  have  signed  the  life-pledge  of  abstinence,  and 
a  large  portion  of  the  inhabitants  are  members  of  the 
Order  of  Good  Templars. 

Denmark  still  holds  the  first  rank  in  respect  to 
the  amount  of  spirits  consumed,  but  the  temper- 
ance people  are  not  asleep,  and  active  efforts  are 
being  made  to  reform  the  nation. 

In  Finland  there  is  a  very  considerable  move- 
ment, and  a  Teachers'  Total  Abstinence  Union  has 
many  branches. 

Nor  is  Russia   without   some   stron"-  throbs  of  a 


3o6      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

new  and  better  life.  Two  books,  or  pamphlets, 
written  by  Dr.  Graufelt,  which  exerted  a  great  influ- 
ence for  total  abstinence  in  Finland,  roused  a 
young  Russian  schoolmaster,  HerrTilk,  and  kindled 
a  flame  which  has  spread  from  village  to  village,  so 
that,  at  the  beginning  of  1892,  sixteen  temperance 
societies  existed  in  Esthland,  and  other  branches 
have  been  formed  among  the  Letts,  supported  by 
the  newspapers. 

In  the  little  republic  of  Switzerland  statistics 
have  shown  that  alcohol  was  the  cause  of  the  death 
of  every  ninth  man  who  died,  in  1891  and  1892, 
between  the  ages  of  twenty  and  sixty  years.  The 
Blue  Cross  Temperance  Society,  started  in  1877, 
last  year  reported  5,943  members  ;  1,474  had  taken 
the  life-long  pledge. 

In  different  parts  of  Belgium,  France,  and  Ger- 
many the  Blue  Cross  Society  is  slowly  organizing. 
The  "  International  Union  for  Combatting  the  Use 
of  Alcohol "  was  formed  at  Zurich,  in  January, 
1890,  soon  enlisting  many  men  and  women  of  in- 
tellectual and  scientific  eminence.  It  now  has 
branches  in  Basel,  Bern,  Berlin,  and  Gratz.  Its 
literature  is  very  helpful. 

The  Independent  Order  of  Good  Templars  was 
brought  from  Denmark  into  Northern  Germany  in 
1883,  and  in  1891  a  lodge  was  formed  in  Berlin. 
The  Empress  of  Germany  has  lately  sought  informa- 
tion  concerning  the  Order. 


Morals,  307 

In  Italy  an  Italian  pastor  in  Lucca  has  organized 
a  temperance  league. 

In  France  the  need  of  reform  is  deeply  felt,  but 
only  the  Blue  Cross  Temperance  Society  and  the 
Salvation  Army  have  done  much. 

Belgium  has  been  stirred  a  little  the  past  year.  A 
beginning  has  been  made  with  the  children  of  that 
besotted  people,  and  temperance  societies  have  been 
started  in  the  schools. 

After  nearly  fifty  years  of  arduous  work  for  tem- 
perance. Rev.  Adama  Von  Schcltema  is  able  to  re- 
joice that  even  in  Holland  is  good  fruit  appearing. 
The  children  who  have  been  trained  in  the  King 
William  House  in  Amsterdam  arc  growing  up  with 
total  abstinence  principles,  and  the  Temperance 
Union  has  forty  branches.  The  Salvation  Army 
has  done  good  work,  and  a  Teachers'  Temperance 
Society  has  been  started  in  Amsterdam. 

Nor  should  we  fail  to  notice  the  fact  that  the 
International  Alcohol  Congresses,  held  in  Antwerp, 
Zurich,  and  Christiania,  have  done  much  to  help  the 
temperance  cause  all  over  Europe.  From  every 
direction  philanthropists  have  been  drawn  together 
and  learned  something  of  each  other's  plans  for 
combatting  the  evil  of  intemperance,  whose  fatal 
blight  has  covered  so  many  lands. 

Thus  light  is  breaking  in  all  directions  to  cheer 
the  stalwart  soldiers  in  this  great  contest,  and  the 
soldiers  are  multiplying. 


3o8      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

When  we  consider  that  this  is  the  first  of  all  the 
long  centuries  in  which  any  headway  has  been  made 
against  the  evil  of  intemperance,  and  that  in  large 
circles  of  people  no  alcoholic  beverages  are  now 
used,  and  in  many  more  larger  circles,  it  is  almost 
abolished,  we  have  reason  to  be  encouraged,  still 
a  hard  fight  yet  remains,  calling  for  courage  and 
constancy. 

Dueling. 

Dueling,  a  custom  of  former  ages  introduced 
into  England  by  the  Normans,  has  had  a  luxurious 
growth  among  Anglo-Saxon  populations  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic.  Before  the  opening  of  this 
century  it  became  a  capital  offense,  in  England  and 
the  United  States  alike,  to  kill  in  a  duel ;  but  pub- 
lic sentiment  was  so  tolerant  of  dueling  that  juries 
would  not  ordinarily  convict  the  offenders,  and  they 
were  seldom  arrested.  Far  into  the  present  century 
it  was  frequently  practiced  by  men  in  high  and  low 
stations  alike.  In  England,  Fox,  Pitt,  Castlereagh, 
Lord  Hervey,  Canning,  the  Duke  of  York,  Daniel 
O'Connell,  the  Duke  of  Richmond,  Wellington,  and 
others,  all  fought  duels — the  latter  as  late  as  1829, 
and  others  as  late  as  1850.  In  the  United  States, 
De  Witt  Clinton  and  John  Swartwout,  in  1802  ; 
Hamilton  and  Burr,  in  1804;  Benton  and  Lucas; 
Jackson  and  Dickinson  ;  Clay  and  Randolph,  in 
1826  ;  Cilley  and  Graves,  in  1838  ;  and  others  later, 
are  a  few  of  the  more  notable  examples.     Dueling 


Morals.  309 

was  a  national  sin,  and  no  bar  to  the  highest  civil 
position  in  the  gift  of  the  nation.  Since  1850  it  has 
nearly  disappeared  in  both  countries — a  clear  indi- 
cation of  moral  progress. 

In  England  the  reform  is  attributed  largely  to 
Prince  Albert.  He  induced  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton and  the  heads  of  the  service  to  use  their  influ- 
ence to  discredit  and  discourage  the  odious  prac- 
tice. But  there  were  other  and  wider  influences  at 
work,  in  the  general  progress  of  the  times,  which 
were  the  effectual  agencies  under  which  the  im- 
provement came.  M'Carthy  says:*  "  Nothing  can 
testify  more  strikingly  to  the  rapid  growth  of  genu- 
ine civilization,  in  Queen  Victoria's  reign,  than  the 
utter  discontinuance  of  the  dueling  system.  When 
the  queen  came  to  the  throne,  and  for  years  after, 
it  was  still  in  full  force.  ...  At  the  present  hour 
a  duel  in  England  would  seem  as  absurd  and  bar- 
barous an  anachronism  as  an  ordeal  by  touch  or  a 
witch-burning.  Many  years  have  passed  since  a 
duel  was  last  talked  of  in  Parliament,  and  then  it 
was  only  the  subject  of  a  reprobation  that  had  some 
work  to  do  to  keep  its  countenance  while  adminis- 
tering the  proper  rebuke.  But  it  was  not  the  in- 
fluence of  any  one  man,  or  even  any  class  of  men, 
that  brought  about  in  so  short  a  time  this  striking 
change  in  the  tone  of  public  feeling  and  morality. 

*  "A  History  of  Our  Own  Times,"  by  Justin  M'Carthy.     Harper 
&.  Brothers.     1880.     Pp.  106,  107. 
21 


3IO      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

The  change  was  partly  the  growth  c>f  education  and 
of  civilization,  of  the  strengthening  and  broadening 
influence  of  the  press,  the  platform,  the  cheap  book, 
the   pulpit,  and   the  less  restricted   intercourse  of 

classes." 

English  Morals. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  century  England,  in  man- 
ning her  navy,  supplemented  her  system  of  volun- 
taiy  enlistment  by  the  barbarous  methods  of  the 
press-gang.  Any  seaman  who  could  be  stolen  from 
the  merchant  service  was  carried  on  board  of  a 
ship-of-war  and  compelled  to  fight.  A  band  of  men 
lurked  in  the  sea-ports  armed  with  this  terrible 
power  to  seize  any  returning  sailor. 

Military  and  naval  discipline  was  maintained  by 
the  use  of  the  lash,  the  doctor  standing  by  to  see 
how  much  the  victim  could  bear.  The  torture  was 
often  changed,  at  short  intervals,  until  five  hundred 
lashes  were  inflicted  ;  or,  if  unable  to  bear  so  much, 
he  was  taken  down,  carried  to  the  hospital,  and  re- 
cruited, then  brought  back  to  receive  the  balance 
of  his  punishment.  When  the  attempt  was  made, 
after  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  to  limit  such  punish- 
ments to  one  hundred  lashes,  it  failed  through  the 
opposition  of  Lord  Palmerston,  and  there  was  no 
reform  until  after  1846,  when,  a  sailor  dying  under 
the  lash,  the  number  of  lashes  was  limited  to  fifty ; 
and  twenty  years  later  the  House  of  Commons  de- 
creed that  flogging,  in  the  time  of  peace,  should  be 


Morals.  3 1 1 

wholly  abolished.     The  new  army  bill  proposes  to 
entirely  abolish  flogging  in  the  national  service. 

Women  and  children  worked  in  coal-pits,  drag- 
ging little  wagons  by  a  chain  fastened  round  the 
waist,  and  crawling  like  beasts,  on  hands  and  feet, 
in  the  darkness  of  the  mine.  Children  of  six  years 
were  habitually  employed,  their  hours  of  labor  ex- 
tending to  fourteen  and  sixteen  daily.  They  were 
often  mutilated  and  sometimes  killed  with  impunity 
by  their  brutalized  associates.  There  being  no  ele- 
vating machinery,  women  carried  the  coal  to  the 
surface,  climbing  long  wooden  stairs,  with  baskets 
on  their  backs.  .  Little  boys  and  girls  of  five  and 
six  swept  chimneys.  Being  built  narrower  than 
now,  only  a  child  could  crawl  into  them,  often 
driven  by  blows  to  the  horrid  work.  Sometimes 
they  were  burned  by  the  hot  chimney,  sometimes 
stuck  fast  in  the  narrow  flue,  and  extricated  with 
difficulty,  and  occasionally  taken  out  dead.  Parlia- 
ment refused  to  interfere,  and  not  until  1840  was 
this  practice  suppressed.  Children  of  six  were 
often  put  to  work  in  factories.  The  hours  of  labor 
ranging  from  thirteen  to  fifteen  daily,  the  chil- 
dren often  fell  asleep  at  their  work,  and  received 
injuries*  by  falling  against  the  machinery,  oj  were 
beaten  by  the  overseer  to  keep  them  awake.  They 
were  stunted  in  size,  pallid,  emaciated,  scrofulous, 
and  consumptive.  Recent  laws  in  England  and 
America   have    alleviated    their   condition.      After 


312       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

1833  no  child  could  be  employed  in  England  under 
nine  years  of  age,  and  those  under  thirteen  were 
limited  to  forty-eight  hours  a  week.  Ten  years 
later  the  hours  of  labor  were  further  reduced  foi 
all  classes  of  operatives.  And  numerous  other  al- 
leviations from  exacting  toil  have  since  been  made. 
These  things,  related  by  Mr.  Mackenzie,  in  his 
sketch  of  the  English  people,  were  also  in  some 
measure  true  of  the  United  States. 

Of  English  morals,  at  the  opening  of  this  cent- 
ury, and  the  improvement  since  that  time,  the 
same  writer  *  says :  "  Profane  swearing  was  the  con- 
stant practice  of  gentlemen.  They  swore  at  each 
other,  because  an  oath  added  emphasis  to  their  as- 
sertions. They  swore  at  inferiors  because  their 
commands  would  not  otherwise  receive  prompt 
obedience.  The  chaplain  cursed  the  sailors,  be- 
cause it  made  them  listen  more  attentively  to  his 
admonitions.  Ladies  swore  orally  and  in  their  let- 
ters. Lord  Braxfield  offered  to  a  lady  at  whom  he 
swore,  because  she  played  badly  at  whist,  the  suffi- 
cient apology  that  he  had  mistaken  her  for  his  wife. 
Erskine,  the  model  of  a  forensic  orator,  swore  at 
the  bar.  Lord  Thurlow  swore  upon  the  bench. 
The  king  swore  incessantly.  When  his  majesty 
desired  to  express  approval  of  the  weather,  of  a 
handsome  horse,  of  a  dinner  which  he  had  enjoyed, 
this  "  first   gentleman    in   Europe  "   supported  his 

*  "  The  Nineteentn  Century,"  Franklin  Square  Library,  p.  18. 


Morals.  313 

royal  asseveration  by  a  profane  oath.  Society 
clothed  itself  with  cursing  as  with  a  garment. 

"  Books  of  the  grossest  indecency  were  exhibited 
for  sale  side  by  side  with  Bibles  and  prayer  books. 
Indecent  songs  were  sold,  without  restraint,  on  the 
streets  of  London,  and  sung  at  social  gatherings 
by  the  wives  of  respectable  tradesmen,  without 
sense  of  impropriety. 

"  Many  causes  have  conspired  to  bring  about  the 
remarkable  improvement  which  has  taken  place  in 
the  moral  tone  of  British  society.  Among  these 
the  influences  exerted  upon  public  morals  by  the 
pure  domestic  life  of  Queen  Victoria  and  Prince 
Albert  fills  no  inconsiderable  place.  The  intellect- 
ual ability  recognized  in  the  queen  and  her  hus- 
band, and  their  manifest  devotion  to  the  public 
good,  added  largely  to  the  authority  which  their 
high  station  conferred  upon  them,  and  disposed  the 
nation  to  be  guided  by  their  example.  The  queen 
and  prince  lived  conspicuously  blameless  lives  in 
the  earnest  and  effective  discharge  of  the  family 
and  public  duties  which  their  position  imposed. 
Their  example  confirmed  and  powerfully  re-en- 
forced the  influences  which  at  that  time  ushered 
in  a  higher  moral  tone  than  had  distinguished 
previous  reigns." 


314      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

New  England  Morals. 
Much  has  been  said  about  the  decline  of  morals 
in   New   England.       It   should   not  be   overlooked 
that  this  section  of  the  country  has  undergone  a 
^reat  change  in  its  population.     It  has  been  a  great 
emigrating  region — a  feeder  of  the  West.      First, 
Western    New  York  was  peopled   from   New   En- 
gland ;  then  the  large  Western  Reserve  region  in 
Ohio ;  then  all  other  portions  of  the  West  received 
large  accessions,  continually  depleting  the  original 
stock  of  New  England.     Hon.  John  Sherman,  at 
the  New  England  Dinner  in  New  York  city,*  said : 
"  We  have  in  the  West  more  people  of  New  En- 
gland ancestry  than  you  have  in  all  New  England, 
with  New  York  thrown  in."     Confining  our  calcu- 
lations to  the  nativity  of  those  living  in  1870,  we 
find  that  the  United  States  Census  for  that  year 
shows  801,301  inhabitants  born  in  New  England,  a 
number  equal  to  one  third  of  her  population  born, 
and  then  residing,  in  New  England,  who  were  liv- 
ing in  other  sections  of  the  Union.     Within  forty 
years  not  less  than  one  half  of  all  born  in  New 
England  have  gone  forth  to  other  States.     While 
this  depletion  has  been  going  on,  carrying  with  it 
the  best  elements  of  New  England  life,  the  vacant 
places  have  been  filled  by  a  very  different  class  of 
people.     The  same  census  shows  638,001  persons, 
*  December  22,  1878. 


Morals.  315 

or  nearly  one  fifth  of  the  whole  population  of  New 
England,  born  in  foreign  lands,  421,850  more,  both 
of  whose  parents  were  foreign-born,  and  84,957 
more,  one  of  whose  parents  was  foreign  born  ;  total 
1,144,809,  or  one  third  of  the  whole  population, 
either  foreign-born,  or  one  or  both  of  whose  parents 
were  from  foreign  lands.  From  1850  to  1870  the 
actual  increase  of  the  native-born  inhabitants  of 
this  section  was  327,956,  and  of  the  foreign-born 
431,752;  but  probably  full  one  third  of  the  native- 
born  increase  was  from  foreign  parentage,  and 
hence  foreign  in  ideas,  habits,  etc.,  which,  deducted 
from  the  former  number  and  added  to  the  latter, 
gives  541,080  increase  of  the  foreign  element  to 
218,682  of  the  native  in  the  last  two  decades. 
Such  changes,  extending  to  one  third  of  the  popu- 
lation, and  so  extensively  engrafting  a  different 
class  of  habits  and  customs,  clearly  accounts  for  a 
very  considerable  part  of  the  modification  that  has 
been  apparent  in  the  character  of  New  England 
society.  But  while  New  England  has  suffered 
from  this  loss,  other  sections  of  the  country  have 
been  immensely  benefited. 

Reverence^  etc. 

Is  it  said  that  the  feeling  of  reverence  has  greatly 
declined  during  the  present  century?  that  funda- 
mental truths  have  lost  their  sanctity,  and  the  spirit 
of  veneration  is  exhaling  ?     True  ;  and  this  is  what 


3i6      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

has  been  repeatedly  said  during  previous  centuries. 
Nor  is  it  altogether  an  evil  omen.  Moral  ideas,  as 
well  as  scientific  theories,  are  undergoing  a  sifting — 
a  process  attended  with  gain  as  well  as  peril.  We 
are,  indeed,  outgrowing  that  excessive  reverence 
which,  in  the  past,  has  been  unreasonable  and  akin 
to  superstition.  We  are  casting  off  our  supersti- 
tions ;  but  the  next  generations  may  discover  that 
we  have  retained  many  of  them.  We  are  accus- 
tomed to  characterize  one  of  the  past  stages  of 
society  as  "the  pagan,"  and  another  as  "  the  elfic ;" 
and  only  those  who  live  after  us  can  characterize 
the  stage  in  which  we  live. 

As  society  advances  in  intelligence  reverence  be- 
comes more  intelligent  and  rational.  We  have  a 
more  rational  reverence  than  our  ancestors.  Con- 
sidering the  natural  law  of  rebound  to  extremes, 
are  we  not  doing  quite  well  ?  Do  we  not  exhibit  a 
good  degree  of  morally  conserving  power? 

Are  we  told  that  '*  moral  questions  are  becoming 
unsettled,  and  the  moral  judgments,  whether  of  in- 
dividuals, or  of  the  Church,  or  public  opinion,  have 
lost  much,  and  with  many  have  lost  all  their 
weight?"  It  has  been  well  replied  that  these 
things  "  result  from  two  excellent  features  of  the 
times-  the  exposure  of  old  fallacies  and  the  culti- 
vation of  mental  independence."  Revolutions  in 
thought  know  no  limits.  Every  thing  must  be 
tested — the  false  sifted  out,  the  husk  separated  from 


Morals.  3^7 

the  kernel.  The  domain  of  morals  must  endure 
these  siftings,  and  modifications  of  moral  ideas  are 
inevitable. 

This  spirit  is  wide  spread.  "  The  debris  of  old 
maxims,  notions,  and  institutions  strews  the  land, 
as  the  shells  of  the  seventeen-year  cicadcB  strew  the 
woods  of  New  Jersey.  Their  time  was  out,  and 
they  had  to  go ;  the  world  had  no  more  room  nor 
tolerance  for  them.  Rut  they  leave  us  necessarily 
the  knack  of  questioning  and  the  habit  of  demoli- 
tion—of looking  on  old  things  as  candidates  for  the 
hammer  and  the  fire.  And  this,  of  course,  devel- 
ops a  spirit  that  is  proud  of  not  leaning  on  anti- 
quated supports,  and  is  only  too  ready  to  call  any 
thing  antiquated  that  is  not  new." 

And  here  is  our  danger.  "  This  spirit  not  only 
insists  upon  testing  afresh  all  things  that  are  clearly 
doubtful,  which  is  the  sacred  duty  of  every  genera- 
tion  ;  but  it  discards  that  most  wholesome  principle 
which  accepts  provisionally  what  has  hitherto  been 
believed,  and  throws  the  burden  of  proof  on  who- 
ever assails  it.  Now,  the  irreverent  mind  of  the  age, 
so  much  of  it  as  there  may  be,  holds  under  indict- 
ment whatever  has  come  down  to  us  from  a  former 
generation,  because  it  has  come  down." 

But  this  is  no  new  tendency.  This  spirit  per- 
vaded Great  Britain  on  the  eve  of  the  Wesleyan 
reformation.  Rev.  Dr.  Timothy  Dwight  described 
the  same  condition  of  things  in  this  country  in  the 


3i8      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

time  of  the  general  prevalence  of  French  infidelity 
here,  at  the  close  of  the  last  century,  which  the  ris- 
ing tide  of  evangelical  Christianity,  after  the  great 
revival  of  1799  to  1800,  very  considerable  sup- 
pressed. It  is  one  of  the  alternate  waves  of  modern 
progress. 

But  is  it  said  that  "  public  opinion  was  once,  and 
to  a  very  influential  degree,  a  unit  in  this  country," 
on  moral  questions?  and  that  "  there  was  no  reason 
to  doubt  what  the  judgment  of  society  would  be 
upon  an  unfaithful  wife,  or  a  defaulting  officer,  or  a 
perjured  witness,  or  an  evil  doer  in  the  ministry?  " 

When  and  where  ?  Only  in  New  England,  in  the 
very  earliest  colonial  times.  In  the  Middle  and 
Southern  colonies  it  was  never  so,  except  in  a  few 
localities.  Certainly  the  last  quarter  of  the  last  cent- 
ury did  not  exhibit  such  moral  superiority,  when 
men  notoriously  dissolute  and  gross  held  the  high- 
est positions  in  public  life,  and  a  perfidious  intriguer, 
debauchee,  and  duelist  was  an  almost  successful 
candidate  for  the  presidency  of  the  United  States. 
Such  a  man  could  not  be  a  candidate  for  the  presi- 
dency to-day.  Disreputable  conduct  in  the  Chris- 
tian ministry  was  not  as  thoroughly  and  as  easily 
subjected  to  discipline  then  as  now.  Many  who 
held  high  positions  in  the  ministry  and  in  the 
State  then  would  not  be  tolerated  in  those  positions 
now.  We  believe  the  moral  judgment  of  society  is 
clearer,  more   uniform   and    emphatic  to-day,  than 


Morals.  319 

ever  before  for  one  hundred  years.  Christianity 
has  evidently  made  great  moral  progress.  The 
apostolic  Church  was  probably  purer  in  morals  than 
that  which  preceded  it.  But  it  appears,  however, 
from  the  apostolic  epistles,  that,  even  in  the  days 
of  the  apostles,  false  and  pernicious  doctrines  and 
corrupt  practices  existed  in  the  Church.  St.  Paul's 
remarks  concerning  the  Lord's  Supper  show  this. 
We  read,  in  i  Cor.  xi,  21,  "  For  in  eating  every  one 
taketh  before  other  his  own  supper:  and  one  is 
hungry,  and  another  is  drunken."  Is  there  a  Church 
in  Christendom  that  needs  such  a  rebuke?  Again, 
we  read  :  "  It  is  reported  commonly  that  there  is  for- 
nication among  you,  and  such  fornication  as  is  not 
so  much  as  named  among  the  Gentiles,  that  One 
should  have  his  father's  wife."  St.  Paul  is  speak- 
ing not  of  those  without,  but  of  persons  tolerated 
in  the  Corinthian  Church,  who  were  guilty  of  prac- 
tices which  would  expel  them  from  any  Church  in 
these  days.  He  interposed  to  elevate  the  standard. 
A  clear  evidence  of  a  high-toned  morality,  rising 
above  the  corruptions  of  the  times,  is  the  current 
dissatisfaction  with  the  evils  which  have  been  afflict- 
ing us,  the  impatient  demand  for  the  purification 
of  society,  the  sharp  indictment  of  public  evils,  their 
fearless  exposure  and  scathing  criticism.  We  are 
ferreting  out  corruption  and  applying  caustic  rem- 
edies. These  are  indications  of  moral  sensitiveness, 
vitality,  and    recuperative   power.      Criticism    and 


320      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

self-introspection  are  auspicious  omens — the  diag- 
nosis, which  precedes  the  prescription.  Vigorous 
remedies  are  closely  following  the  analysis.  Every- 
where the  call  is  for  official  honor,  fidelity,  pure  laws 
and  equitable  civil  service.  Reform  is  the  watch 
word  in  most  circles — the  talismanic  word  in  polit- 
ical and  ecclesiastical  life.  We  are  finding  our  reck- 
onings and  mending  our  course.  Beating  against 
the  wind  is  sometimes  better  than  sailing  before  it. 
The  moral  sentiments  of  society  are  mighty  and 
cumulative.  The  action  of  the  two  great  political 
parties,  in  nominating  Generals  Garfield  and  Han- 
cock, both  morally  unobjectionable  men,  as  candi- 
dates for  the  Presidency,  is  a  concession,  by  poli- 
ticians, to  the  moral  sentiment  of  the  country. 

Pauperism. 
Pauperism,  though  less  obviously,  yet  more  reli- 
ably, than  crime,  indicates  the  standard  of  public 
morality.  Most  cases  of  publicly  recognized  pau- 
perism arc  intimately  related  to  criminality  and 
viciousness  of  character  as  their  cause,  though  the 
criminal  cause  of  poverty  is  often  found  in  a  differ- 
ent person  from  the  individual  sufferer.  Pauperism 
generally  increases  and  diminishes  with  the  decline 
and  advance  of  public  morals.  If  this  is  a  correct 
conclusion,  a  reference  to  the  statistics  of  pauper- 
ism, in  almost  every  parish  in  the  nation,  will  afford 
the  most  gratifying  refutation  of  the  late  lamenta- 


Morals.  321 

tions  over  the  "  moral  declension  "  of  the  country. 
Without  adducing  statistics,  we  are  sure  that  no 
well-informed  person  will  question  the  general  ac- 
curacy of  the  assumption  that  pauperism  has  greatly 
diminished  during  the  century. 

In  regard  to  both  crime  and  pauperism,  a  dis- 
tinction should  be  made  between  persons  educated 
among  us  and  those  whose  characters  were  formed 
under    influences    antagonistic    to    the    influences 
which  prevail  among  ourselves.     A  Protestant  of 
foreign  birth  may  be  presumed  to  have  a  character 
not    wholly   different    from    that  of  an   American. 
The  the  religious  element  is  the  most  considerable 
one,  though  we  must  still  claim  for  our  free  institu- 
tions an  influence  for  good,  a  tendency  to  engender 
a  rational  patriotism,  a  self-respect,  and  a  general 
moral  sentiment,  which  cannot  be  looked  for  under 
a  despotic  government.     If,  then,  in  this  reckoning, 
we  confine  ourselves  either  to  native  Americans,  or 
to  Protestants  and  persons  of  Protestant  parentage, 
the   result  will  show  a  very  much   larger  relative 
diminution  of  crime  and  pauperism.     Removing  all 
foreigners  and  their  children,  or  all  Romanists  and 
their  children,  from  our  penitentiaries  and  eleemos 
ynary  institutions,  the  remnant  will  be  very  small 
compared  with  the  mass  of  our  Protestant  popula- 
tion.    Take  out  the  emigrant  paupers,  and  you  will 
find  that  the  masses  have  advanced  astonishingly  in 
this  respect  since  the  Revolution. 


322      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  many  of  the  fathers 
of  New  England  owned  the  bodies  of  their  laborers 
and  domestics,  and  that  this  condition  of  things,  in 
a  modified  form,  in  large  sections,  extended  into 
this  century.  The  condition  of  workingmen  has 
improved  relatively  to  the  wealth  of  the  land  ever 
since.  Wages  of  every  kind  bear  a  higher  propor- 
tion to  the  things  needed  for  comfort  and  conven- 
ience than  ever  before  for  two  hundred  years. 
Said  Theodore  Parker : 

"  If  you  go  back  one  hundred  years  I  think  you 
will  find  that,  in  proportion  to  the  population  and 
wealth  of  this  town  or  this  State,  there  was  consid- 
erably more  suffering  from  native  poverty  then  than 
now.  Now  public  charity  is  more  extended  and 
more  complete,  works  in  a  wiser  mode,  and  with 
far  more  beneficial  effects,  and  pains  are  now  taken 
to  uproot  the  causes  of  poverty — pains  which  our 
fathers  never  thought  of." 

Rev.  Timothy  Dwight,  D.D.,  writing  in  1815, 
estimated  the  paupers  in  the  towns  of  New  En- 
gland outside  of  cities  at  one  for  three  hundred 
inhabitants,  a  ratio  far  exceeding  the  present. 

Another  minister,*  referring  to  the  condition  of 
things  at  the  time  of  his  settlement,  in  1810,  at 
North  Coventry,  Conn.,  a  fair  sample  of  many  in- 
land towns,  at  that  time,  said  : 

*  Rev.  George  A.  Calhoun,  D.D.,  sermon  on  the  fortieth  anniver- 
sary of  his  settlement,  1850. 


Morals.  323 

"  There  were  only  four  floors  with  carpets  on 
them,  but  four  houses  painted  white,  and  not  more 
than  ten  four-wheeled  vehicles.  Even  whitewash 
on  the  walls  of  rooms  was  very  seldom  used.  Nor 
was  the  difference  in  the  times  merely.  Real  pov- 
erty was  the  cause.  Even  in  the  condition  in 
which  they  did  live,  there  were  few  who  had  money 
at  interest  compared  with  those  who  were  in  debt, 
and  those  whose  farms  were  mortgaged.  Property 
was  constantly  changing  hands  by  the  foreclosure 
of  mortgages  and  insolvency.  But  the  expense  of 
living  then,  as  compared  with  now,  was  very  small. 
What,  then,  was  the  reason  for  this  depression  in 
worldly  circumstances  ?  Their  gains  were  con- 
sumed, and  they  were  oppressed,  by  the  use  of  in- 
toxicating drinks."  "  At  least  one  man  in  every 
score  became  a  drunkard,  and  not  a  few  women 
were  addicted  to  habits  of  intemperance."  "  There 
was  probably  not  one  in  five  hundred  who  did  not 
believe  that  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks,  as  a 
beverage,  was  absolutely  needful." 

The  problem  of  poverty  is  an  old  one,  and  has 
survived  many  attempted  solutions.  Some  plain 
facts  stand  out  in  all  the  investigations  of  this  ques- 
tion. It  is  a  fact  that  it  is  well-nigh  or  quite  impos- 
sible to  push  many  of  the  poor  over  the  line  of 
self-support  and  keep  them  there  ;  while  those  wlio 
are  naturally  efficient  make  progress  under  almost 
any  circumstances.     How  many  instances  may  be 


324      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

cited  of  families  of  paupers,  extending  through  many 
generations,  when  drunkenness  was  one  of  the 
causes ;  of  others,  when  a  sort  of  Ishmaelitish  pro- 
pensity to  antagonize  civihzation  has  prevailed  ; 
and  of  others  who  have  exhibited  an  uncontrollable 
inclination  to  get  away  from  comfortable  circum- 
stances, in  well-established  society,  and  to  dwell  in 
the  midst  of  scarcity  and  unthrift. 

Besides,  it  must  be  admitted  that  some  hard  con- 
ditions in  the  lot  of  humanity  seem  to  have  been 
established  by  nature.  Nothing  can  be  obtained  or 
kept  without  work  is  an  old  fact.  "  To  him  that 
hath"  (increase  by  diligence)  "shall  be  given,  and 
from  him  that  hath  not  shall  be  taken  away  that 
which  he  hath,"  is  the  divine  law.  Improvidence 
and  lack  of  thrift  is  the  fruitful  cause  of  want. 

So  much  has  been  said  and  so  severely  said 
within  a  few  years,  in  a  socialistic  and  ail^rchistic 
spirit,  that  the  views  of  three  prominent  writers,  in 
vindication  of  organized  society  against  the  heavy 
allegations  of  pessimists  and  disorganizers,  will  be 
inserted,  one  at  considerable  length.  The  topic  is 
of  pressing  interest  at  the  present  time. 

Rev.  Edward  Everett  Hale,  in  the  "  Independent," 
in  1893,  said : 

Pessimists  distress  themselves  on  paper  about  the  condition 
of  the  poor  in  modern  cities  ;  but  it  is  a  iiealthy  sign  that  they 
do  distress  themselves.  Two  hundred  years  ago  nobody  dis- 
tressed himself,  to  any  purpose,  about   the  poor  of  Paris  or  of 


Morals.  325 

London  or  Vienna  or  Rome.  And  one  may  learn  from  such  a 
book  as  Defoe's  "  Captain  Jacl<,"  or  liis  "  History  of  the 
Plague."  how  much  more  sickness,  wickedness,  misery,  vice, 
and  death  there  was  in  London  two  centuries  ago  than  there  is 
now.  Such  a  book  as  Mr.  Booth's  "  Statistical  Study  of  Lon- 
don" throws  a  great  deal  of  light  on  a  matter  which  had  been 
left  to  vague  outcry. 

The  world  certainly  takes  more  systematic  care  of  its  defect- 
ive classes— the  blind,  deaf,  dumb,  lame,  and  insane— than  it 
ever  did.  It  is  hard  to  assign  any  other  cause  for  this  improve- 
ment than  an  improvement  in  moral  sense,  or  the  obligation  of 
a  higher  law. 

It  is  a  wise  remark  of  the  great  economist,  Gen- 
eral F.  A.  Walker,  "  It  is  a  matter  of  wonder  that 
the  condition  of  the  working  classes  is  as  good  as 
it  is,  when  so  much  is  wasted  in  using." 

David  Starr  Jordan,  LL.D.,  President  of  Leland 
Stanford  University,  in  the  "  Catholic  Mirror,"  May 
19,  1894,  gave  some  striking  thoughts: 

The  most  effective  Sacculina  is  the  most  degenerate  one. 
In  like  manner,  whenever  a  race  or  family  of  men  have  fallen 
away  from  self-helpfulness  the  forces  of  evolution  intensify  its 
parasitism.  The  successful  pauper  is  one  who  retains  no  ca- 
pacity for  anything  else. 

In  every  American  city  there  exists  a  large  number  of  people 
who,  in  the  ordinary  course  of  life,  can  never  be  made  good 
citizens.  Our  free  institutions  do  not  make  them  free;  our 
schools  do  not  train  them.  It  is  well  to  face  the  fact  that  the 
existence  of  the  great  body  of  paupers  and  criminals  is  possible 
only  by  feeding  them  in  one  way  or  another  on  the  life-blood  of 
the  community.  It  is  the  presence  of  this  class  that  adds  terror 
to  poverty.  It  is  they  who  make  hard  the  lot  of  the  worthy 
poor.  The  problem  of  poverty  and  misfortune  is  a  difficult  one 
22 


326      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

at  best.  It  is  rendered  many  times  more  difficult  by  the  pres- 
ence among  the  poor  of  those  whom  no  condition  could  bring 
to  the  level  of  self-helpful  and  self-respecting  humanity.  The 
difficult  problem  of  the  unemployed  becomes  far  more  difficult 
when  associated  with  the  hopeless  problem  of  the  unemploy- 
able. 

Whatever  the  cause  of  the  existence  of  hereditary  inefficiency, 
it  exists  in  our  civilization.  It  is  one  of  the  factors  in  our  social 
fabric.  It  is  an  element  not  less  difficult  than  the  race  problem 
itself.  The  race  problem  is  indeed  a  phase  of  it,  for  when  a 
race  can  take  care  of  itself  it  ceases  to  have  a  problem. 

Hereditary  inefficiency  is  therefore  a  factor  in  society.  It 
must  be  a  factor  in  civil  affairs.  In  what  way  does  it  affect  the 
problem  of  government  }  In  municipal  government  its  evil 
effects  are  at  once  apparent.  A  single  group  of  related  fam- 
ihes,  all  helpless  and  hopeless  by  heredity,  forms  in  the  clean 
and  wealthy  city  of  Indianapolis  some  four  per  cent,  of  the  pop- 
ulation, 5,000  in  perhaps  125,000.  In  other  American  cities, 
notably  San  Francisco,  with  its  mild  climate  and  proverbial 
hospitality,  the  percentage  is  greater.  In  no  city  is  it  absent. 
Self-government  by  such  people  is  a  farce.  No  community 
was  ever  built  up  of  thieves  and  imbeciles.  The  vote  of  the 
dependent  classes  is  always  purchasable.  The  co-ordination 
and  sale  of  this  vote  and  of  the  allied  criminal  vote  is  the  work 
of  the  most  dangerous  of  the  dirty  brood  of  political  bosses. 
It  is  stock  in  trade  of  every  king  of  the  slums.  This  vote  can 
be  bought  with  the  money  of  candidates.  It  can  be  bought 
with  the  spoils  of  office.  It  can  be  bought  with  public  funds 
set  aside  for  purposes  called  charitable.  The  various  forms  of 
outdoor  relief  constitute  "  a  corruption  fund  of  the  worst  kind." 

We  have  heard,  ad  nauseam,  the  oft-repeated  dec- 
laration that  "  the  poor  are  growing  poorer  and  the 
rich  richer;"  but  the  best  students  of  the  economic 
conditions  of  society  have  demonstrated  that  the 


X)Z.£i.(3-ie.A.^r     2CIIZ. 
Ratk  ok  Day  Walks  i-du  52  Ykars  in   U.mtkd  States. 
Average  fur  22  leading  industries.     See  pj).  714,  715. 


1840 
1 

2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 

1850 
1 
2 
3 


6 

7 
8 
9 
1860 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 


>- 

DC 

a. 

0 

t- 

UJ 

< 

u. 

"" 

9 

1870 

1 

2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 

1880 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 

1890 
1 
2 


>- 

0 

UJ 

a- 

0 

h- 

1/1 

•< 

L^ 

-^ 

The  Fi  kchasim;  Powkr  ok  Wages. 
All  articles,  food,  clotliino;,  fuel,  etc.,  simply  avera-ed. 


1840 

1 

8 

2 

q 

3 

1870 

4 

] 

5 

2 

6 

3 

7 

4 

8 

5 
6 

-                 7 

9 

1850 

1 

g 

2 

2 

ca. 

9 

z 

3 

o 

—             '880 

o 

4 

^ 

vt 

5 

p 

«- 

o 

6 

3 

7 

8 

G 

7 
8 

9 

1860 

2 

3 

4 

5 
6 

Morals.  327 

opposite  is  the  truth,  and  wc  gladly  turn  to  some 
encouraging  facts,  Hon.  Carroll  D.  Wright  and 
others  have  made  overwhelming  demonstrations 
showing  that  wages  have  been  advanced,  and  that 
the  prices  of  the  commodities  of  life  have  decreased. 
His  statistics  of  wages  comprise  the  prices  paid  in 
nearly  one  hundred  distinct  establishments,  cover- 
ing twenty-two  industries,  for  the  period  1840  to 
1891  continuously.  His  statement  is  too  lengthy 
to  be  given  in  full  in  this  volume.  It  may  be  found 
in  the  "  Quarterly  Publications  of  the  American 
Statistical  Association,"  Boston,  1893,  p.  496,  etc. 
For  the  benefit  of  the  critical  student  I  give  in  the 
Appendix  the  statistics  of  wages  for  seven  of  the 
twenty-two  industries,  and  one  column  which  gives 
an  average  for  all  industries.  This  table  will  be  fol- 
lowed by  another  showing  the  purchasing  power  of 
wages  during  the  same  period. 

These  tables  represent  a  vast  amount  of  labor 
and  expense,  and  the  whole  has  been  done  in  the 
most  scientific  manner.  It  will  be  noticed  that  the 
year  i860  represents  more  nearly  than  any  other 
in  the  whole  period,  a  normal  year;  and  there- 
fore fluctuations  on  either  side  of  i860  are  repre- 
sented by  fractional  parts  of  one  hundred.  For 
instance,  $1.75  per  day  is  represented  by  175  in 
the  table.  The  same  in  regard  to  the  prices  of 
commodities. 

It  will  be  noticed   that   the  average  of  all  wages 


328      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

increased  from  lOO  in  i860  to  160.7  in  1891,  and 
that  prices  of  all  articles,  simply  averaged,  fell  in  the 
same  period  from  100  to  92.2.  The  relative  pur- 
chasing power  of  a  day's  work  thus  becomes  appar- 
ent. The  ratio  of  wages  in  the  first  ten  years  of  the 
period  to  those  of  the  last  ten  years  is  as  88  to 
154. 

A  good  authority  carries  the  comparison  back  to 
an  earlier  period  : 

In  considering  the  subject  of  wages  a  century  ago  one  finds 
many  facts  of  curious  interest.  In  1793  the  Schuylkill  &  Sus- 
quehanna Canal  Company  advertised  for  workmen,  offering  $5 
a  month  for  the  winter  months  and  $6  for  summer,  with  board 
and  lodging.  The  next  year  there  was  a  debate  in  the  House 
of  Representatives,  which  brought  out  the  fact  that  soldiers  got 
but  $3  per  month.  A  Vermont  member,  discussing  the  pro- 
posal to  raise  it  to  $4,  said  that  in  his  State  men  were  hired  for 
_£i8  a  year,  or  $4  a  month,  with  board  and  clothing.  Mr. 
Wadsworth,  of  Pennsylvania,  said :  "  In  the  States  north  of 
Pennsylvania  the  wages  of  the  common  laborer  are  not,  upon 
the  whole,  superior  to  those  of  the  common  soldier."  In  1797 
a  Rhode  Island  farmer  hired  a  good  farm  hand  at  $3  a  month, 
and  $5  a  month  was  paid  to  those  who  got  employment  for  the 
eight  busy  months  of  the  farmer's  year.  A  strong  boy  could 
be  had  at  that  time  in  Connecticut  at  $1  a  month  through 
those  months,  and  he  earned  it  by  working  from  daybreak  until 
eight  or  nine  o'clock  at  night.  He  could  buy  a  coarse  cotton 
shirt  with  the  earnings  of  three  such  months. 

The  farmers  could  pay  no  better,  for  the  price  they  got  for 
produce  was  so  very  small.  Butter  sold  at  eight  cents  a  pound, 
and  when  it  rose  suddenly  to  ten  cents  several  farmers'  wives 
and  daughters  went  out  of  their  minds  with  the  excitement. 
Women  picked  the  wool  off  the  bushes  and  briers,  where  the 


Morals.  329 

sheep  had  left  it,  and  spun  and  knit  it  into  mittens  to  earn  $i  a 
year  by  this  toilsome  business.  They  hired  out  as  help  for 
twenty  five  cents  a  month  and  their  board.  By  a  day's  hard 
work  at  the  spinning-wheel  a  woman  and  girl  together  could 
earn  twelve  cents.  As  late  as  1821  the  best  farm  hands  could 
be  had  for  twenty-five  cents  a  day,  or  twice  as  much  in  mowing 
time.  Matthew  Carey  gives  a  painful  picture  of  the  working 
classes  at  that  time.  Every  avenue  to  employment  was  choked 
with  applicants.  Men  left  the  cities  to  find  work  on  the  canals 
at  from  sixty  to  seventy-five  cents  a  day,  and  to  encounter  the 
malaria,  which  laid  them  low  in  numbers.  The  highest  wages 
paid  to  women  was  twenty-five  cents  a  day,  and  even  the 
women  who  made  clothes  for  the  arsenal  were  paid  by  the 
government  at  no  higlier  rates.  When  the  ladies  of  the  city 
begged  for  an  improvement  of  this  rate,  the  secretary  hesitated, 
lest  it  should  disarrange  the  relations  of  capital  and  labor 
throughout  the  city.  Poor  people  died  of  cold  and  want  every 
winter  in  the  city,  and  the  fact  seems  to  have  made  an  impres- 
sion only  on  benevolently  disposed  persons. 


TJie  Economic   View. 

A  writer  in  the  "  Fortnightly  Review,"  (June, 
1880,)  said:  "We  are  at  length  beginning  to  read 
history  in  the  light  of  economic  causes.  These 
causes,  silent,  simple,  potent,  and  pervading,  have 
been  always,  and  must  be  always,  at  work  in  all 
sorts  of  societies,  in  all  ages,  from  the  most  rude  to 
the  most  artificial."  He  then  directs  attention  "  to 
the  following  epitome  of  the  evidence  relating  to 
the  progress  of  the  population  of  England,  and  in 
England  and  Wales,  since  the  close  of  the  eleventh 
century,"  and  to  certain  inferences  therefrom,  which 


330      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

throw  much  light  on  the  question  of  moral  progress. 
(Figures  corrected  to  1891.) 

"  The  researches  which  have  been  undertaken 
and  the  discussions  which  have  occurred  regarding 
the  population  of  England,  and  of  England  and 
Wales,  at  various  periods  antecedent  to  the  first 
actual  census  of  1801,  justify  us  in  accepting  the 
following  results  as  near  the  truth  :  About  the  year 
1 100  (Henry  I.)  the  total  population  of  England 
was  certainly  not  more  than  2,000,000  of  persons, 
if  so  many.  After  the  lapse  of  three  centuries  it 
had  become  (including  Wales)  2,750,000  in  1400, 
(Henry  IV.)  The  lapse  of  another  century  raised 
it  to  somewhat  less  than  3,500,000  in  1500,  (Henry 
Vn.)  At  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  in 
1600,  the  population  was  4,500,000.  In  1700,  under 
William  III.,  it  was  5,500,000.  In  1801  the  first 
census  gave  the  population  of  England  and  Wales 
at  9,250,000,  and  in  1891  it  is  computed  officially 
that  the  total  has  risen  to  quite  29,002,525. 

"  From  these  figures  we  deduce  the  following  very 
striking  variations  of  progression,  always  remem- 
bering that  soil,  climate,  and  seasons,  and  national 
character,  have  remained  essentially  the  same,  and 
that  there  has  not  been  any  foreign  invasion  :  In 
the  three  centuries  (1100-1400)  the  increase  was 
700,000,  or  233,000  in  each,  equal  to  about  10  per 
cent,  in  each  hundred  years.  In  the  single  century 
(1400-1500)  the  increase  was  700,000,  or  25  per  cent. 


Morals.  331 

In  the  next  single  centur)-  (i  500-1600)  the  increase 
was  1,110,000,  or  30  per  cent.,  and  it  was  the  same 
total  increase,  equal  to  25  per  cent.,  in  the  hun- 
dred years  1600-1700.  But  in  the  following  century 
(1700-1800)  the  increase  was  more  than  3,500,000, 
equal  to  say  64  per  cent. ;  and  in  the  ninety  years 
(1801-1891)  the  increase  has  been  the  vast  total 
of  nearly  20,109,989,  equal  to  226  per  cent.  The 
percentages  of  increase  have  been,  therefore,  (stated 
in  general  terms,)  for  each  of  the  seven  periods  of 
one  hundred  years,  as  now  described,  10,  10,  10,  25, 
30,  25,  64,  and  for  the  last  ninety  years  226  per  cent., 
and,  if  emigration  be  allowed  for,  this  last  per- 
centage would  be  largely  increased. 

"  We  find  in  this  statement  a  foundation  of  solid 
evidence  regarding  the  progress  of  this  country  in 
the  resources  and  appliances  of  civilization  ;  that  is 
to  say,  in  the  growth  of  capital  and  skill  and  sci- 
ence. In  a  country  by  nature  temperate  and  fer- 
tile, a  population  which  increases  slowly  means 
(apart  from  circumstances  of  a  very  special  kind 
not  easily  overlooked)  a  country  the  people  of 
which  are  deficient  in  the  wealth  and  knowledge 
whereby  reasonable  food,  clothing,  and  shelter  can 
be  provided,  and  diseases  and  epidemics  averted  or 
cured.  Devastating  invasions  or  domestic  wars,  for 
example,  the  Turkish  inroads  in  the  East  of  Europe, 
or  the  Thirty-years'  War  in  German}',  may,  when 
they  occur,  reduce  the  population  of  a  fertile  region 


332      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

to  a  low  ebb  for  a  considerable  time.  But  in  the 
case  of  England  during  the  four  hundred  years  from 
lioo  to  1500,  there  were  no  sweeping  calamities  of 
this  nature  to  account  for  the  fact  that  the  popu- 
lation grew  only  at  the  rate  of  10  per  cent,  in  each 
of  the  first  three,  and  at  the  rate  of  only  25  per 
cent,  in  the  last  of  the  four  centuries  indicated. 
Nor  can  it  be  said  that  the  government  of  the 
country  during  these  four  centuries  was  ill-suited  to 
the  times,  or  more  corrupt  or  oppressive  than  the 
governments  of  other  parts  of  Western  Europe. 
On  the  contrary,  the  English  kings  and  English 
statesmen  of  the  period  in  question  were  consider- 
ably better  and  wiser,  on  the  whole,  than  their  for- 
eign contemporaries.  The  small  number  of  people 
and  their  tardy  increase  can  be  attributed  only  to 
the  circumstance  that  capital  accumulated  so  slowly 
that  each  generation  had  the  greatest  physical  diffi- 
culty in  maintaining  as  many  offspring  as  would 
just  replace  it,  sometimes  with  a  trifling  surplus  and 
sometimes  with  a  deficiency.  And  this  incessant 
conflict  with  nature  for  mere  life  necessitated  dense 
ignorance,  the  rudest  and  hardest  labor,  the  diseases 
and  epidemics  which  follow  close  upon  hunger, 
cold,  and  exposure,  and  the  sweeping  destruction 
of  infant  and  advanced  life." 


Morals.  333 

Longevity  and  Sanitary  Science. 

Another  class  of  facts  throws  light  upon  this 
question  ;  we  refer  to  the  average  extent  of  human 
life.  Vice,  whether  it  results  in  squalid  poverty  or 
in  sensual  luxury,  is  always  unfricndl}-  to  health  and 
longevity,  while  viciousness  of  character  is  both  di- 
rectly and  indirectly  destructive  of  human  life. 
These  propositions  are  so  obvious  as  not  to  need 
proof  or  illustration.  It  is  ascertained  that  the  av- 
erage measure  of  human  life,  in  this  country,  has 
been  steadily  increasing  during  this  century,  and  is 
now  considerably  longer  than  in  any  other  country. 
The  approximate  agencies  that  have  produced  this 
result  are  thrift,  temperance,  parental  care,  and  self- 
control — all  proofs  of  public  and  private  virtuous- 
ness  of  character.  This  is  one  of  the  most  reliable 
tests  of  our  real  moral  status  ;  and  it  must  be  grant- 
ed that  the  conclusion  to  which  it  leads  is  highly 
satisfactory,  although  much  remains  to  be  done. 

Sanitary  science,  a  department  of  study  almost 
unknown  until  recent  times,  is  everywhere  receiv- 
ing attention  and  working  out  beneficent  results. 
There  arc  ^cw  people  whose  sanitary  condition  is 
not  better  than  that  of  their  fathers.  Progress  is 
quite  perceptible  in  Great  Britain,  France,  Germany, 
and  the  United  States.  Especially  marked  is  the 
economy  of  life  among  the  young,  on  whose  imma- 
ture strength  evil  sanitary    conditions  press    most 


334      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

heavily.  The  influence  of  sanitary  legislation  traces 
its  benign  and  enduring  record  in  the  higher  phys- 
ical conditions  of  city  populations,  in  comparative 
exemption  from  epidemic  diseases,  and  the  increased 
duration  of  human  life.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
century  the  deaths  in  London  exceeded  the  births, 
and  the  growth  of  the  metropolis  depended  upon 
immigration  from  the  provinces. 

Going  back  several  centuries  in  English  history, 
we  find  accounts  of  mortality  which  are  really 
appalling,  and  of  which  we  have  no  conception  in 
the  present  century.  In  the  sixteenth  century 
England  remained  numerically  at  a  stand-still. 
The  "black  death"  occurred  in  1348.  In  later 
centuries  there  followed  other  fearful  pestilences, 
of  which  we  have  a  valuable  record  from  able  in- 
vestigators,''^ with  a  brief  account  of  the  sanitary 
measures  resorted  to : 

In  1 501  that  strange,  terrible  pestilence,  the  sweating  sick- 
ness, visited  England  for  the  second  time,  and  numbers  died  of 
it.  Again  in  1517  the  third  visitation  occurred  ;  and  was  more 
formidable  than  any  preceding  outbreak.  Not  only  did  count- 
less numbers  of  the  poorer  inhabitants  fall  victims  to  the 
disease,  but  it  attacked  the  court.  The  king  isolated  himself 
in  miserable  and  selfish  solitude,  and  terror  and  consternation 
prevailed  throughout  the  kingdom.  On  the  cessation  of  this 
epidemic  the  plague  broke  out  and  ravaged  England  during 
the  remainder  of  that   and  the  whole  of  the  succeeding  year. 

*  The  "Decorator's  Gazette  and  Phimber's  and  Gasfitter's  Re- 
view," England. 


Morals.  335 

In  1 521  and  1526  the  plague  was  so  severe  in  London  that  the 
hiw  courts  had  to  be  adjourned.     The  year   1 521   was  notice- 
able above  all  others   for  the  great  mortality   that  occurred 
throughout  Europe.     In  France  one  fourth  of  the  entire  popu- 
lation is  computed  to  have  been  destroyed  by  disease  and  fam- 
ine, while  England    appears  to  have   been    visited  with  equal 
severity—"  hundreds  of  thousands,"  according  to  Stow,  dying 
of  pestilence  and  famine.     In    1 530  "  a  great   death  in  London 
and  in  other  divers  places  "  is  recorded.      Holinshed  speaks  of 
•<  a  great  death  "  in  1540,  "  by  a  strange  kind  oi  hot  ague  with 
fluxes."     In    1546,  10,000   English   soldiers  died  of   pestilence 
while  besieging  Boulogne.     Again  in  1551  the  sweating  sick- 
ness visited  England  with  such  violence  that  Godwin,  speakmg 
of  it,  calls  it  "  a  depopulation."     In    1558   vehement   quartan 
ague's  prevailed,  accompanied  by  malignant  typhus.     The  poor 
perished  in  thousands,  while  within  the  space  of  four  months 
no  less  than  thirteen  bishops  died.     The  years  1561  and   1562 
were  characterized  by  the  prevalence  of  malignant  small-pox, 
accompanied   by  violent  pleurisies,  and  in  1563  the  plague  de- 
stroyed in  London  29,000  persons. 

In  the  succeeding  centuries,  although  London  was  five  times 
ravaged  with  the  plague,  still  the  general  mortality  decreased, 
while  toward  the  end  of  the  century,  with  the  mtroduction  of 
the  New  River  water  supply,  the  extension  of  the  suburbs,  and 
finally  the  rebuilding  of  the  city  after  the  f^re,  the  plague  quit- 
ted this  country  forever.  The  improvement  manifested  in  that 
century  was  continued  into  the  next,  and  of  that  we  have  a 
very  interesting  proof.  In  1693  the  British  government  bor- 
rowed money,  the  amount  borrowed  being  paid  in  annuities  on 
the  basis  of  the  mean  duration  of  life  at  that  time.  The  State 
then  made  a  good  bargain.  Ninety-seven  years  afterward  Pitt 
established  another  tontine,  based  on  the  presumption  that  the 
mortality  would  remain  the  same  as  one  hundred  years  before, 
but  now  they  lost  money,  for  while  in  the  first  tontine  20,000 
of  each  sex  died  under  the  age  of  twenty-eight,  in  the  second 
only  12,188  died  under  this  age. 

The  causes  which  produced  these  frequent  outbursts  of  pes- 


336      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

tilence  and  added  to  their  fatality  are  not  far  to  seek,  and  chief 
among  tliem  must  be  mentioned  the  absolute  ignorance  of  the 
medical  practitioners  of  the  day;  the  decay  of  scientitic  teach- 
ing, especially  in  such  practical  pursuits  as  architecture,  agri- 
culture, and  horticulture  ;  the  diseases  engendered  and  spread 
by  the  soldiery  during  the  civil  wars,  and  the  gross  habits  of  the 
people. 

With  the  decay  of  religious  houses  the  practical  sciences, 
such  as  architecture  and  agriculture,  languished.  It  is  not 
generally  known  that  our  ancestors  at  a  very  early  period 
reached  a  point  of  sanitary  refinement  which  seems  to  have 
been  quite  lost  in  subsequent  generations.  Thus,  many  a 
fourteenth  century  house  was  provided  with  a  regular  bath- 
room, the  water  led  in  by  a  conduit,  which  also  supplied  a 
lavatory.  Bathing-tubs  of  large  dimensions,  covered  by  em- 
broidered hangings,  are  also  represented  in  contemporary  draw- 
ings. Records  of  public  drains  are  also  made  mention  of,  and 
in  1285  water  was  conveyed  by  means  of  pipes  from  Padding- 
ton,  then  a  country  village,  to  a  reservoir  in  Cheapside. 

We  need  not  dwell  on  the  insanitary  condition  into  which 
the  houses  in  the  sixteenth  century  relapsed,  since  Erasmus,  in 
a  letter  to  Dr.  Francis,  physician  to  Cardinal  Wolsey,  dated 
1 518,  has  graphically  described  their  filthy  state.  But  not  only 
were  the  houses  of  that  period  deficient  in  sanitary  nicety,  but 
they  were  often  ill-constructed,  while,  owing  to  the  want  of 
space  and  the  absurd  restrictions  against  building  in  the  sub- 
urbs, they  became  more  and  more  contracted,  pinched,  and 
ill-contrived.  With  an  increase  of  inhabitants  in  the  town  the 
water  supply  had  to  be  taken  more  and  more  from  the  surface 
wells,  while  the  public  conduits,  instead  of  bringing  water  from 
a  distance,  took  their  supply  from  springs  immediately  adjacent 
to  the  city  walls.  Such  a  supply  would  necessarily  be  liable  to 
contamination  by  all  kinds  of  filth,  especially  as  it  was  stored  in 
wooden  vessels  capable  of  holding  about  three  gallons  each, 
while  infected  excreta,  finding  its  way  to  the  original  source  of 
supply,  would  spread  disease  far  and  wide.  There  was  no  sys- 
tem of  drainage,  the  sewage  was  either  received   into   small 


Morals.  337 

cesspools  or  cast  directly  out  on  the  land.  Often  it  was  cast 
into  the  streets,  and  we  learn  from  the  records  of  the  court 
leet  of  Stratford-on-Av'on  that  Shakespeare's  father  was  there 
fined  for  this  offense.  Owing  to  the  lamentable  condition  of 
agriculture  corn  was  scarce,  and  the  poor  had  to  content  them- 
selves with  bread  made  from  "  beans,  peason,  otes,  tares,  and 
lintelles."  Fresh  meat  could  only  be  obtained  during  the  sum- 
mer months  ;  for  the  greater  part  of  the  year  even  the  rich  had 
to  content  themselves  with  salted  meat. 

Turning  from  that  period  to  our  own  time,  w^e  cannot  fail  to 
see  the  improvement  in  the  marked  contrast.  In  the  present 
century  in  England  among  the  upper  classes  the  average  dura- 
tion of  life  is  fifty  years ;  in  the  sixteenth  century  it  only  ex- 
tended to  thirty  years.  At  the  present  time  as  many  people 
live  to  seventy  years  as  three  hundred  years  ago  lived  to  forty- 
three.  Taking  the  seventeenth  century,  from  which  more  reli- 
able statistics  as  regards  mortality  can  be  gathered  than  the 
sixteenth,  we  find  that  the  average  death  rate  in  ordinary  years 
for  London,  with  a  population  of  half  a  million,  was  about 
thirty-nine  per  1,000  people  living;  whereas  the  death  rate  in 
London,  put  at  quite  the  highest  figure  at  the  present  time, 
does  not  exceed  twenty-four  per  1,000  ;  so  that  the  average  age 
of  the  entire  population,  which  two  hundred  years  ago  only 
reached  twenty-six  years,  now  extends  to  forty-two.  Thus 
sixteen  years  have  been  added  to  the  life  of  the  London  citizen 
by  improvements  in  the  science  of  public  health.  Epidemic 
diseases,  it  is  true,  still  exist  among  us,  but  tlianks  to  the  im- 
provements in  medical  science  they  are  earlier  recognized  and 
better  treated  than  they  were  three  hundred  years  ago,  while 
our  kno>vledge  of  the  causes  that  lead  to  these  outbreaks  is  so 
complete  that  if  our  means  of  application  were  equally  ad- 
vanced we  could  effectually  control  them.  Improved  methods 
of  drainage  and  land  cultivation  have  removed  from  us  such 
maladies  as  ague,  dysentery,  and  scurvy,  while  our  food  supply, 
being  more  varied  and  plentiful,  maintains  the  general  health 
at  a  high  standard.  Improved  methods  of  treating  wounds 
have  rendered  operations   possible   for  the   relief  of  human 


338      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

suffering  that  a  few  years  ago  could  only  be  imagined,  while 
pyaemia  and  erysipelas,  which  were  formerly  regarded  as  mat- 
ters of  ordinary  risk  in  hospital  practice,  are  now  looked  upon 
as  evidences  of  sanitary  neglect  and  opprobrium  to  the  individ- 
ual surgeon.  With  these  examples  to  encourage  us,  we  may 
hope  that  the  progress  toward  the  moral  and  physical  regener- 
ation of  the  race  will  continue  to  be  the  proudest  and  most  suc- 
cessful achievement  of  this  and  succeeding  centuries. 

A  prominent  journal  has  said  : 

During  the  first  half  of  the  last  century  the  death  rate  of 
London  was  so  great  that  the  population  made  no  advance, 
being  665,200  in  1700,  and  653,900  in  1750.  The  deaths  were 
one  in  thirty  of  persons  living.  In  1801  the  population  had 
advanced  to  777,000,  and  the  deaths  had  declined  to  one  in 
forty-one.  This  amendment  was  not  owing  to  better  sanita- 
tion, but  to  better  food  and  means  of  warming  the  houses,  and 
better  clothing.  In  the  next  quarter  of  a  century  the  London- 
ers began  to  wake  up  to  the  evil  effects  of  bad  water,  no  drain- 
age, and  foul  air,  and  before  1850  the  sanitary  efforts  and  the 
sanitary  legislation  which  mark  our  modern  era  had  begun 
the  beneficent  work  through  which,  in  that  great  aggregation 
of  more  than  4,000,000  of  people  the  death  rate  is  now  eighteen 
persons  in  1,000,  which  is  only  one  in  fifty-five. 

In  England  and  Wales,  in  1710,  the  annual  death 
rate  was  28  in  every  1,000  persons;  in  1837  it  had 
fallen  to  24.7  ;  in  1876,  according  to  Mr.  Mackenzie,* 
it  was  21  ;  while  in  Hungary  it  was  37.2  ;  in  Austria, 
29.4;  in  Italy,  28.7;  in  Prussia,  25.4 ;  in  France, 
22.7.  A  great  improvement  has  been  efTected ;  but 
"  the  waste  of  human  life  is  still  discreditably  great." 

*  "The  Nineteenth  Century,"  Franklin    Square  Library,  p.  26, 
note. 


Morals.  339 

Table  of  the  Average  Annual  Rates  of  Mortality  in 
Three  English  Cities. 

p    .   J  Number  London.  Liverpool.     Manchester. 

Fcriods.         of  years.     In  i,ooo  persons.       In  i,ooo.  In  i,ooo. 

1865-66 2  25.5  40.2  33-5 

1867-70 4  23.8  311  31-8 

1871-74 4  22.8  301  30.2 

1875-78 4  22.9  27.8  28.6 

In  1840-44,  with  16,367  inhabitants  to  the  square 
mile,  in  London,  the  average  annual  mortality  was 
24.5  persons  in  1,000;  in  1874-78,  with  28,602  inhab- 
itants to  the  square  mile,  the  rate  was  22.9.  Rela- 
tively, the  rate  of  mortality,  figured  according  to 
density,  should  have  been  26.2.  Here  is  a  saving 
of  12,178  lives  annually  in  London,  from  1874  to 
1878,  as  compared  with  the  death  rate  and  density 
in  1840  to  1844.  This  improvement  the  Registrar- 
General  attributes,  in  part,  to  the  extensive  sew- 
erage introduced,  measuring  1,300  miles.* 

Rev,  Edward  Everett  Hale,  D.D.,  recently  said : 

The  death  rate  of  the  world  and  the  proportion  of  sickness 
improve  steadily.  It  is  fair  to  ascribe  this  improvement  to  an 
improvement  in  morals  or  the  obedience  to  law.  It  is  said 
— though  not  on  very  perfect  authority — that  the  probability 
of  life  at  a  given  age  is  three  times  as  great  in  London  as  it 
was  in  Rome  in  the  days  of  Augustus.  This  cannot  be  abso- 
lutely demonstrated.  But  something  like  it  is  true.  This  is 
evidence  that  man  takes  more  care  of  man,  that  man  bears 
his  brother's  burdens,  that  he  lives  in  the  common  life,  as  he 
did  not  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago. 

*  See  "  The  British  Almanac  and  Companion,"  1880,  p.  121. 


340       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

The  Anarchist  Spirit 

is  a  dark  phase  in  the  problem  of  modern  progress. 
These  elements  have  come  to  us  by  immigration — 
the  fruitage  of  the  despotism  of  the  Old  World  ;  kin- 
dred to  the  spirit  of  the  P'rench  Revolution  which 
a  century  ago  shook  the  continent  of  Europe.  It  is 
the  most  difficult  and  alarming  problem  that  has 
confronted  the  citizens  .of  the  United  States  since  the 
first  mutterings  of  the  civil  war.  The  pope's  encyc- 
lical on  the  labor  question  a  few  years  ago  fell 
powerless  on  his  European  audience,  utterly  failing 
to  suppress  the  spirit  of  anarchy  in  its  native  home. 
The  evil  has  overleaped  the  ocean  and  poisoned 
the  atmosphere  of  the  United  States.  Great  un- 
rest and  discontent  have  prevailed  in  many  central 
localities,  and  we  have  had  coal  strikes,  mining 
strikes,  railroad  strikes,  armies  of  the  unemployed 
marching  across  the  land,  and  desperate  uprisings  in 
Pittsburg,  Buffalo,  and  in  Chicago. 

If  sterner  and  more  efficient  measures  had  been 
exercised  in  dealing  with  the  lawless  mobs  who  went 
tramping  across  the  country,  seizing  railroad  trains, 
preying  upon  farmers,  etc.,  the  sanguinary  drama  in 
Chicago  and  vicinity  would  not  have  been  witnessed. 
It  is  high  time  for  the  people  to  be  serious  when 
they  realize  that  men  infected  with  anarchistic  prin- 
ciples occupy  gubernatorial  chairs,  and  boldly  share 
the  perverse  direction    in   which  their  sympathies 


Morals.  341 

run.  When  the  Governor  of  Illinois  pardoned  the 
anarchist  murderers,  he  startled  the  countr)-;  but 
when  he  impudently  stood  face  to  face  before  the 
President  of  the  United  States  and  opposed  his  in- 
tervention to  suppress  the  great  riot,  the  country 
was  startled  into  tumultuous  rage.  Severe  have 
been  the  expressions  of  indignation  ;  but  will  the 
people  remember  this  evil  conduct,  or  will  they  soon 
condone  the  offense  ?  They  have  only  themselves 
to  blame,  if  they  elect  such  men  to  these  high 
offices  and  keep  them  there. 

The  rioters  in  these  great  tumults  appear  to  com- 
prise large  multitudes,  but  the  real  spirits  of  mis- 
chief are  probably  comparatively  few.  Our  great 
cities  are  unfortunate  in  having  large  numbers  of 
desperate  men  who,  mixing  in  with  genuine  strikers, 
multiply  their  capacity  for  harm,  and  the  examples 
become  contagious. 

We  cannot  believe  that  it  is  our  decent,  well- 
trained  American  workmen  who  perpetrate  these 
great  offenses,  though  some  may  be  tainted  with 
the  virus  of  the  pestilence.  Who  would  have  sup- 
posed a  year  ago  that  the  incomparable  World's 
Fair  would  so  soon  be  followed  by  these  direful 
catastrophes,  developing  a  spirit  of  evil  emulous  of 
the  Parisian  Commune  ?  And  yet  we  are  told  some 
visitors  even  then  had  ominous  apprehensions  of  the 
possibility  of  an  outbreak,  as  they  occasionally  ob- 
served clusters  of  scowling  proletariats  ripe  for  revolt 
23 


342      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

and  spoliation.  It  is  not  strange  that  men  who 
project  these  uprisings  are  often  shattered  victims 
of  alcohohsm  and  IngersolHsm,  and  that  a  species 
of  demagogism  among  laboring  men  adds  fuel  to 
the  flame. 

Should  we  not  reflect  upon  the  dangers  that  at- 
tend that  material  and  scientific  progress  of  which 
so  much  strident  boasting  has  been  heard  ?  The 
West  has  long  been  upheld  as  a  marvel  of  enter- 
prise, and  Chicago  as  the  wonder  of  the  universe. 
One  half  of  the  population  of  that  city  is  foreign. 
Europe  and  America  combined  there  to  perform 
prodigies  of  material  grandeur.  But  was  it  at  no 
cost  of  morals  ?  At  no  sacrifice  of  genuine  happi- 
ness? At  no  peril  to  salvation  ?  Certainly  it  was 
the  kingdom  of  this  world  and  not  the  kingdom  of 
God  that  was  sought.  Such  a  reversal  of  the  divine 
edict  could  be  attended  with  no  real,  lasting  good. 
If  we  make  idols  of  gold  and  worship  divinities  of 
material  prosperity,  the  curtain  will  in  due  time  be 
lifted,  and  we  shall  behold  hideous  devouring  de- 
mons lurking  behind  the  scenes.  Shall  our  mighty 
cities  become  heaving  volcanoes?  What  can  pre- 
vent or  postpone  the  bursting  forth  of  the  pent-up 
fires  ?  Who  has  the  wisdom  to  name  and  apply  the 
remedy  ? 

So  far  as  anarchism  is  a  spirit  of  madness  and 
revenge  against  old-time  institutions,  and  it  is  that 
chiefly,  there  is  only  one  remedy — suppression  by 


Morals.  343 

the  civil  power ;  but  the  remaining  fraction  will 
doubtless  be  reached  by  calm  and  thorough  discus- 
sion, which  will  eliminate  the  more  radical  elements 
of  the  problem — the  sting  of  the  hornet.  Some 
of  our  expounders  of  political  economy,  in  promi- 
nent positions,  for  a  while  stood  on  perilous  ground, 
which  gave  comfort  and  encouragement  to  the  rev- 
olutionary party.  There  are  some  indications  that 
they  are  emerging  from  the  hallucination  of  their 
extreme  theorizing,  retracing  their  steps,  and  are 
likely  to  become  helpful  to  other  venturesome  in- 
quirers. 

The  anarchistic  spirit  has  been  aggravated  by 
certain  radical  and  reckless  discussions  of  unsolved 
economic  problems.  During  the  past  twenty  years 
or  more  the  American  people  have  been  confronted 
with  momentous  questions  closely  related  to  the 
question  of  monopoly.  Heavy  allegations  are  made 
against  railroad  and  other  corporations,  as  so 
seriously  grinding  down  and  impoverishing  large 
classes  of  the  people  as  to  call  for  interference  by 
the  State.  The  support  of  the  churches,  it  is  also 
claimed,  should  be  afforded  in  the  interest  of  hu- 
manity, that  the  offensive  monopolies  maybe  elimi- 
nated and  government  control  be  established  over 
those  large  industrial  operations. 

The  solution  of  this  problem,  some  have  self-con- 
fidently  asserted  to  be  easy,  and  two  methods  have 
been  advocated,   mutually  dependent:  First,   turn 


344      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

over  the  great  public  functions  in  the  industrial 
realm  to  responsible  public  authorities ;  and,  sec- 
ondly, civil  control  of  those  who  manage  these  es- 
sentially public  businesses,  and  make  them  so  dis- 
charge their  functions  that  they  will  promote  the 
public  welfare.  This  scheme  was  regarded  with 
much  favor  at  first  by  many  thoughtful  persons,  but 
on  maturer  thought  it  has  been  judged  to  be  im- 
practicable and  visionary.  Professor  Richard  T. 
Ely  has  well  said  :  "  The  hope  of  a  beneficent  con- 
trol of  private  property,  of  the  kind  mentioned,  is 
Utopian.  Every  article,  monograph,  and  book  ad- 
vocating such  control  should  be  entitled  '  Utopia,' 
because  they  all  rest  upon  hypotheses  which  apply 
only  to  an  imaginary  world." 

This  radical  theory  implies  that  civil  govern- 
ment can  put  in  charge  of  such  interests,  which 
have  been  developed  by  long  personal  experience, 
officers  capable  of  managing  and  sustaining  them, 
who  can  be  found  in  other  and  inexperienced 
relations,  and  who,  with  no  personal  interest  in 
the  work,  will  efficiently  conduct  them.  In  other 
words,  the  advocates  of  these  views  propose  to 
bring  about  "  a  system  of  control  in  which  inex- 
perience shall  control  experience,  and  ignorance, 
knowledge.  Can  anything  more  Utopian  be  well 
imagined  ?"  * 

It  is  very  certain,  that  while  something  may  be 
*  Article  in  the  "  Catholic  Mirror,"  Baltimore,  August,  1894. 


Morals.  345 

done  by  specific  legislation,  yet  the  whole  matter 
is  so  mixed  and  complicated,  that  the  only  sure 
and  effectual  remedy  must  be  sought  in  pervad- 
ing the  public  mind  with  a  fuller  realization  of 
the  great  principles  relating  to  the  brotherhood  of 
man  and  the  common  rights  of  all — Christianity  in 
the  concrete. 

Philanthropic  Agencies. 

One  of  the  noblest  traits  of  the  century  is  the 
development  of  organized  voluntary  effort  to  relieve 
the  suffering  and  raise  the  fallen.  Near  the  begin- 
ning of  this  century  the  humane  spirit  of  Christian- 
ity was  seen  struggling  for  a  wider  dominion.  It 
came  forth  slowly,  for  a  long  period  of  hatred,  per- 
sonal bitterness,  and  bloodshed  had  preceded,  and 
left  its  spirit  lurking  in  all  departments  of  society. 
But  after  the  great  European  war  which  ended  in 
the  defeat  of  Napoleon  at  Waterloo,  a  spirit  of  tol- 
eration, tenderness,  and  forbearance  began  to  pre- 
vail, and  men's  minds  were  directed  to  the  work  of 
helping  the  helpless,  protecting  the  unprotected, 
providing  for  the  needy,  and  alleviating  suffering. 
Charities,  many  of  them  before  unknown,  sprang 
up  and  multiplied.  Hospitals,  infirmaries,  dispen- 
satories, asylums,  homes  for  the  aged,  lodging- 
houses,  institutions  for  the  blind,  the  deaf  and 
dumb,   the  idiotic,   and    for   drunkards,   have   been 

*  See  "  The  British  Almanac  and  Companion,"  1880,  p.  121. 


34^      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

established  every-where,  and  number  their  inmates 
by  hundreds  of  thousands.  Children  without  guard- 
ians have  been  snatched  by  merciful  hands  from  the 
perils  which  surrounded  them,  and  committed  to 
institutions  for  education  and  training.  Fallen 
women  are  gathered  into  institutions  devoted  to 
their  moral  recovery.  Criminals  whose  terms  of 
punishment  have  expired  are  provided  with  employ- 
ment. A  vast  machinery  of  charities,  with  a  spirit 
of  noble  devotedness,  is  spreading  its  net-work  of 
kindly  influences  in  all  our  cities  and  towns.  Five 
hundred  *  charitable  societies  in  London  expend 
$5,000,000  annually ;  and  in  New  York  city  about 
$4,000,000  annually  are  expended.  In  the  United 
States  43  institutions  care  for  5,743  deaf  and  dumb 
annually ;  30  institutions  for  the  blind  minister 
to  2,179  pupils  annually;  11  idiot  asylums  minis- 
ter to  1,781  idiotic  and  imbecile  persons.  The  first 
two  classes  of  these  institutions  show  a  property 
of  $10,000,000,  and  the  three  classes  an  annual  ex- 
penditure of  $2,250,000,  for  persons  heretofore  left 
to  be  trodden  down  and  passed  by  with  indifference. 
Not  to  specify  other  humane  and  philanthropic  in- 
stitutions, it  may  be  said  that  nearly  all  institutions 
and  organizations  for  these  unfortunates  have  had 
theii  origin  since  the  battle  of  Waterloo.  This  dis- 
position to  raise  the  fallen,  to  befriend  the  friend- 

*  Low's  "  Hand-Book  to  the  Charities  of  London,"  1879-1880, 
shows  one  thousand  charitable  institutions  in  that  city. 


Morals.  347 

less,  is  now  one  of  the  governing  influences  of  the 
world,  whose  dominion  is  widening  every  year,  and 
winning  to  its  support  a  growing  public  sentiment. 

Penal  Inflictions. 

Within  one  hundred  years  the  criminal  laws  of 
even  the  most  enlightened  countries  were  atro- 
ciously savage,  and  administered  in  a  relentless 
spirit.  Hon.  Edmund  Burke  said  he  could  obtain 
the  consent  of  the  House  of  Commons  to  any  bill 
imposing  punishment  by  death.  English  law  recog- 
nized two  hundred  and  twenty-three  capital  crimes 
— not  wholly  a  legacy  of  the  Dark  Ages,  for  one 
hundred  and  fifty-six  of  them  bore  no  remoter  date 
than  the  reigns  of  the  Georges.  "  If  a  man  injured 
Westminster  bridge  he  was  hanged.  If  he  appeared 
disguised  on  a  public  road  he  was  hanged.  If  he 
cut  down  young  trees,  if  he  shot  rabbits,  if  he  stole 
property  valued  at  five  shillings,  if  he  stole  any  thing 
at  all  from  a  bleach-field,  if  he  wrote  a  threatening 
letter  to  extort  money,  if  he  returned  prematurely 
from  transportation — for  any  of  these  offenses  he  was 
prematurely  hanged.  .  .  .  Men  who  were  not  old 
when  the  battle  of  Waterloo  was  fought  were  fa- 
miliar with  the  nameless  atrocities  which  it  had  been 
customary  to  inflict  upon  traitors.  Within  their 
recollection  men  who  resisted  the  government  were 
cut  in  pieces  by  the  executioner,  and  their  dishon- 
ored heads  were  exposed  on  Temple  Bar  to  the  de- 


348       Problem  of  Rkltcious  Pro(;ress. 

rision  or  pity  of  passers-by.  It  seemed,  indeed,  as 
if  society  were  reluctant  to  abandon  these  horrid 
practices.  So  late  as  1820,  when  Thistlewood  and 
his  companions  were  executed  for  a  poor,  blunder- 
ing conspiracy  which  they  were  supposed  to  have 
formed,  the  executioner  first  hanged  and  then  be- 
headed the  unfortunate  men.  The  prison  accom 
modations  provided  by  the  State  were  well  calcu- 
lated to  reconcile  criminals  even  to  the  gloomiest  of 
all  methods,  of  deliverance.  It  was  in  1773  that 
John  Howard  began  his  noble  and  faithful  researches 
among  the  prisons  of  England,  but  many  years 
passed  before  remedies  were  found  for  the  evils 
which  he  revealed.  In  Howard's  time  the  jailer  re- 
ceived no  salary :  nay,  he  often  paid  a  considerable 
sum  for  the  situation  which  he  filled.  He  was  re- 
munerated by  fees  extracted  at  his  own  pleasure, 
and  often  by  brutal  violence,  from  the  wretches  who 
had  fallen  into  his  power.  It  was  his  privilege  to 
sell  their  food  to  the  prisoners,  and  to  supply,  at  an 
extortionate  price,  the  straw  which  served  them  for 
beds,  unless  they  were  content  to  sleep  on  the  damp 
floor."  * 

The  penal  codes  and  usages  of  all  civilized  coun- 
tries retained  too  lt)ng  the  barbarism  of  the  less- 
enlightened  ages.  But  a  marked  modification  in 
statutes  and  prisons  has  been  apparent  in  the  last 
sixty   years.      The    more    sanguinary   penalties   of 

+  Mackenzie's  "  Nineteenth  Century."     Harper  &  Brothers. 


Morals.  349 

other  ages  have  been  left  behind,  and  the  retribu- 
tion which  savors  of  vengeance  has  been  eliminated. 
Penal  justice  is  administered  with  reference  to  what 
is  required  for  the  safety  and  well-being  of  society — 
not  exact  retribution — so  much  suffering  for  so  much 
crime — but  the  principle  of  self-defense,  security, 
and  reformation. 

Machinery  and  Moral  and  Social  Progress. 

We  have  to  go  back  in  thought  only  a  short  time 
to  see  what  men  were  without  machinery.  Mind 
is  more  than  muscle.  Mind  first  invented  the  tools 
which  muscle  uses,  and  civilization  is  the  sum  of 
our  attainments  in  the  use  of  the  materials  and 
forces  for  the  promotion  of  our  physical,  material, 
and  moral  well-being.  After  groping  through  cent- 
uries, through  alchemy,  empiricism,  and  guess  work, 
invention  and  discovery  have  reached  the  bed  rock 
on  which  mechanism  puts  forth  its  multitudinous 
machinery  and  sets  it  to  work  for  the  welfare  and 
happiness  of  the  human  race. 

Hon.  Carroll  D.  Wright  has  ably  discussed  this 
new  factor  in  practical  ethics : 

Machinery  has  brought  with  it  a  new  school  of  ethics.  It  is 
the  type  and  representative  of  the  civilization  of  this  period,  be- 
cause it  embodies,  so  far  as  mechanics  are  concerned,  the  con- 
centrated, clearly  wrought  out  thought  of  the  age.  While 
books  represent  thought,  machiner>'  is  the  embodiment  of 
thought.  We  are  living  in  the  age  of  mind,  intellect,  brain, 
which  to-day  is  king,  and  machinery  is  the  king's  prime  minis- 


350      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

ler.  Wcaltli  of  mind  and  wealth  of  purse  struggle  for  the 
mastery,  and  the  former  wins  and  gives  the  crown  to  the  Hux- 
leys,  Darwins,  Tyndals,  Proctors,  Woolseys,  and  Drapers, 
rather  than  to  the  Rothschilds  and  Astors.  It  is  natural  and 
logical  that  under  sucii  sovereignty,  machinery  should  not 
only  typify  the  progress  of  the  race,  but  have  a  clearly  marked 
influence  upon  the  morals  of  people — a  mixed  influence,  too,  as 
men  are  what  we  call  good  or  evil,  but,  on  the  whole,  with  the 
good  vastly  predominant. 

The  pessimist  of  this  age — and  his  name  is  legion — finds  in 
this  influence  the  wonderful  displacement  of  muscular  labor, 
back  work,  and  mourns  for  the  days  of  the  fathers.  He  sees 
in  the  growing  importance  of  inventions  the  destruction  of  the 
individuality  of  men,  and  their  gradual  retrogression  to  mere 
puppets,  without  the  intelligence  of  the  machinery  they  deplore. 
He  sees,  in  the  division  of  labor,  the  to  him  sure  corollary  of 
machiner)%  the  degradation  of  labor,  the  dwarfing  and  narrow- 
ing of  the  mind,  and  the  complete  subjugation  of  all  manly 
qualities.  He  fails  to  comprehend  work  as  anything  more  than 
mere  manual  labor,  the  expenditure  of  muscle,  and  never  real- 
izes that  it  means  employment,  occupation,  the  means  by 
which  all  sane  people  secure  happiness  for  themselves  and 
those  they  love — and  that  whatever  is  done  in  the  name  of 
service  to  mankind  is  work,  and  that  the  work  which  calls  out 
the  highest  faculties  of  the  worker,  whether  of  endeavor  or  of 
aspiration,  is,  for  him,  the  highest  employment. 

If  there  is  any  one  thing  this  age  more  than  any  preceding 
insists  upon  in  individuals  it  is  work — employment  of  some 
kind.  Once  it  was  enough  to  be  good  ;  now  one  must  prove 
himself  valuable,  or  he  becomes,  if  not  an  actual,  a  social  and 
moral  tramp.  St.  Paul  said  :  "  To  him  that  worketh  is  the  re- 
ward not  reckoned  of  grace,  but  of  debt."  Yet  when  a  man  is 
employed  to  the  extent  of  the  support  of  himself  and  his  own, 
the  reward  is  reckoned  of  grace,  and  he  is  capable  of  a  better 
and  a  purer  religious  growth,  for  a  poverty-stricken  people 
cannot  well  be  a  religious  people.  Religion  most  assuredly 
has  to  do  with  everything  that  affects  the  conduct  of  life  ;  it  is 


Morals.  "  351 

the  art  of  living  well,  not  merely  of  dying  well.  It  is  the  sci- 
ence of  being  and  doing.  The  aim  of  the  modern  Christ 
"  would  be  to  raise  the  whole  platform  of  society.  He  would 
not  try  to  make  the  poor  contented  with  a  lot  in  which  they 
cannot  be  much  better  than  savages  or  brutes.  He  would  not 
content  himself  with  denouncing  sin  as  spiritual  evil  ;  he  would 
go  into  its  economic  causes,  and  destroy  the  power  by  cutting 
at  the  roots — poverty  and  ignorance  " — and  the  lowest,  most 
harmful,  and  most  expensive  ignorance  of  to-day  is  ignorance 
of  work,  the  want  of  some  technical  knowledge  which  enables 
a  man  to  earn  his  own  living  outside  a  penal  institution.  "  He, 
the  modern  Christ,  w^ould  accept  the  truths  of  science,  and 
would  teach  that  a  man  saves  his  soul  best  by  helping  his 
neighbor." 

Poverty  and  such  religion  cannot  exist  among  the  same  peo- 
ple, for  such  a  religion  cannot  prevail  unless  the  people  are 
engaged  in  that  class  of  employments  which  tend  to  broaden 
all  their  faculties,  to  awaken  not  only  their  sense  of  duty  to 
their  kind,  but  to  develop  their  love  of  beauty,  of  art,  and  of  all 
that  adorns  and  ennobles  life,  and  such  employment  cannot  be 
maintained  without  the  presence  of  machinery  as  the  endow- 
mg,  working,  and  perfect  embodiment  of  the  ingenuity  of 
man. 

We  are  hardly  aware  of  the  silent  working  influence  of  ma- 
chinery upon  the  morals  of  the  world.  It  is  recognized  in  this 
thought  I  have  outlined,  that  poverty  and  religion  are  not  now, 
as  once,  twin  virtues,  and  that  work  is  as  good  an  evangelist  as 
the  world  has  seen.  Christianity  only  prevails  in  industrious 
communities.  The  people  of  America,  with  all  their  faults  and 
foibles,  are  more  religious,  in  the  sense  I  have  given,  than  any 
other,  and  this,  I  am  sure,  is  because,  among  a  democratic 
people,  where  there  is  no  hereditary  wealth,  every  man  works 
to  earn  a  living,  or  has  worked,  or  is  born  of  parents  who  have 
worked.  The  notion  of  labor  is  therefore  being  presented  to 
the  mind,  on  every  side,  as  the  necessary,  natural,  and  honest 
condition  of  human  existence.  Professor  Everett,  in  his  able 
essay  upon  the  subject,  justly  refers  to  the  old  idea  of  poverty 


352      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

as  "  the  ideal  life."     The  old  idea  of  poverty  was  that  it  was  to 
be  comforted  and  solaced — in  some  way  ameliorated — but  the 
thought  of  doing  away  with  it  would  have  been   considered,  if 
not  sacrilegious,  at  least  hardly  desirable.     The  life  of   poverty 
was    indeed    the    ideal    life.     This  whole    state  of   things  has 
changed.     "  God's  poor,"  said  the  old    morality ;  the  "  devil's 
poor,"  would  say  the  new,  if  it  spoke  its  whole  thought.     Pov- 
erty is  not  the  blessing,  but  the  curse  of  society.   .The  whole 
social  effort  is  not   so  much  to  ameliorate  it  as  to  abolish  it. 
Charity,  instead   of  being  regarded   as  the   ideal  virtue,  is,  at 
least  under  its  old  form,  regarded  as  a  weakness,  if  not  as  a 
vice.     "  If  you  would  help  men,"  cries  the  new  morality,  "help 
them  to  help  themselves."     "Give  to  him  that  asketh  thee," 
cried    the   old  ;  "  Give  to   nobody  that    asks   thee,"  cries  the 
new.     "  Send  beggars  to  the  Central  Committee  ;  "  and  to  this 
Central  Committee  it  says  :  "  If  you  give  anything  give  work." 
And  work  is  the  cure  all,  the  panacea  for  many  of  the  evils  that 
threaten  society,  but  in  order  to  have  this  panacea  induce  the 
very  best  conditions  for  the  reception  and  growth  and  home  of 
a  high  state  of  morals,  the  prerequisite  of  religious  advance- 
ment should  be  the  very  highest  grade  of  employment.      If 
the  lowest  grade  germinates  into  self-respect,  and  the  dignity 
which  comes  of  self-support,  how  ennobling  must  be  that  em- 
ployment which  not  only  stimulates  the  highest  faculties,  but 
excites  the  admiration  for   the  perfect  and  love  for  the  beauti- 
ful.    Any  man  witnessing  the  operations  of  a  wonderful  piece 
of  mechanism  feels  its  influence  for  life.     There  is  something 
educational  in   the  very  presence  of    the   mechanical  powers. 
The    witnessing   of   the   automatic    movements  of  a  machine 
stimulates   thought,    and,    coupled    with    necessity   or   desire, 
makes  the  laborer  not  only  the  inventor  of  other  movements, 
but  of  his  own  fame  and  fortune. 

If  labor,  employment  of  the  mind,  is  an  essential  to  religion 
and  good  morals,  then  the  highest  kind  of  employment,  that 
requiring  the  most  application,  the  best  intellectual  effort, 
means  the  best  religion  and  the  best  morals.  This  condition,  I 
take   courage   to   assert,    is    superinduced    eventually    by  the 


Morals.  353 

employment  of  so-called  labor-saving  machinery  and  the  divis- 
ion of  labor. 

We  are  told  that  in  the  good  old  times  we  did  not  have  so 
many  sick  with  us.  True,  because  they  died.  The  feeble 
could  not  live  under  the  old  conditions  ;  only  the  most  robust 
and  sturdiest  physical  natures  could  survive,  and  none  others 
were  seen.  To-day  the  presence  of  feeble  men  and  women,  of 
advancing  years,  does  not  show  degeneracy  of  the  race,  but  is 
a  living  glory  of  our  civilization  which  allows  them  to  exist. 
The  constant  promotion  of  luxuries  to  the  grade  of  necessaries 
of  life,  which  marks  the  forward  steps  of  civilization,  positively 
demands  the  fullest  play  of  the  ingenuity  of  man  to  place  them 
within  reach.  The  wheel  of  progress  rolls  on,  destroying  the 
old  as  it  rolls,  crushing  out  ignorance  ;  but  it  rolls  all  the  time, 
and  man  is  often  obliged  to  give  way  before  it,  as  the  old 
machine  is  thrown  aside  for  the  new.  Educated  labor,  as  the 
pioneer,  must  stt-p  over  human  graves,  over  buried  ambitions 
and  lost  opportunities  ;  the  law  is  infallible,  if  even  in  our  short- 
sightedness we  call  it  cruel. 

In  the  division  of  labor,  as  I  have  said,  is  positive  reduction 
of  working  time  and  corresponding  increase  of  wages.  These 
benefits  are  particularly  marked  during  the  past  century  in  the 
increased  chance  of  life,  which  has  been  raised  ten  per  cent., 
in  the  fourfold  increase  of  productive  power,  and  the  wonder- 
fully enhanced  power  to  command  what  rulers  a  century  ago, 
with  all  the  appointments  of  war  and  the  adjuncts  of  unlimited- 
exchequers,  could  not  command.  The  laborer  will  learn  in  the 
future  that  diversity  of  employment,  and  the  consequent  prac- 
tical versatility  of  his  talents,  will  enable  him  to  secure  the 
essentials  of  life  in  a  few  hours,  and  that  he  can  swell  his  in- 
come by  artistic  employment  upon  articles  which  he  may  now 
be  denied.  The  inevitable  result,  it  seems  to  me  to  be,  is,  that 
while  we  shall  always  have  the  unfortunate  with  us,  made  so 
from  a  variety  of  causes,  bad  conditions  will  be  palliated  to  a 
large  degree  by  the  capacity  to  not  only  employ  one's  time, 
when  enfeebled,  upon  profitable  work,  but  by  bringmg  with 
such  employment  corresponding  joy. 


354      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

To  accomplish  this  it  is  desirable  to  increase  the  capacity  of 
the  people  to  consume,  and  this  is  done  by  improving  their 
physical  and  moral  condition.  So  the  nearer  we  get  to  the 
point  where  a  man  shall  have  control  of  powers,  by  simplifying 
muscular  motions,  the  quicker  will  his  physical  condition  be 
improved,  for  the  higher  will  be  the  efficiency  of  mere  muscular 
labor ;  and  certainly  the  higher  physical  condition  begets  the 
better  moral  condition.  Can  there  be  any  other  corollary  than 
morality  to  these  propositions  ?  If  not,  then  religion  flourishes 
best  under  the  conditions  that  produce  the  best  moraUty. 

TJie  Peril  of  the  Cities. 

Massed  populations  cannot  dwell  in  obscurity. 
They  are  the  radiating  centers  of  national  life. 

The  rural  sections  get  not  merely  their  fashions, 
but  their  social  customs  and  mold  of  character  from 
the  cities.  Cities  are  moral  battle  grounds,  potent 
determining  factors  of  moral  progress.  The  prob- 
lem of  the  cities  is  therefore  one  of  the  leading 
problems  of  our  civilization.  Under  our  peculiar 
civil  polity  the  solution  must  come  from  out  of  the 
hearts  of  the  people,  by  the  process  of  self-govern- 
ment, grounded  in  intelligence  and  true  virtue. 

The  tendency  to  a  congestion  of  populations  has 
been  one  of  the  marked  phenomena  of  all  history 
from  the  days  of  Babel  to  the  present  time.  The 
teeming  populations  of  Nineveh,  Babylon,  Carthage, 
Syracuse,  and  Rome,  the  cities  of  Egypt  and  Greece, 
are  only  a  few  of  the  more  notable  of  the  great 
centers  of  the  olden  time. 

But  it  must  be  confessed  that   the  conditions  of 


XI I  .A.  (3- 1^ -A.  2v£      2CTr. 

Illustrating  the  Ckowth  of  Fifty  Pkincipal  Cities. 
Per  cent,  of  total  population  of  United  States. 


1850 


10.4  per  cent 


1860 


12.2  per  cent 


1870 


14.8  percent. 


1880 


1890 


15.5  percent. 


18  0 


124  cities  of  25,000  and  upward  contain  13,988,938  inhabitants, 
or  22.5  per  cent,  of  whole  population  of  United  States. 

448  cities  of  4,000  inhabitants  and  upward  contain  18,284.385 
population,  or  29.2  per  cent,  of  whole  United  States. 


Morals.  355 

the  higher  Christian  civilizations  furnish  the  impulse 
and  also  the  facilities  for  larger  concentrations  of 
population.  In  the  United  States  these  large  ag- 
gregations of  people  have  been  the  more  remark- 
able because  of  the  unparalleled  extent  of  our 
national  area.  While  the  inhabitants  have  been 
spreading  out  into  tlie  new  territories,  filling  up 
vast  solitudes  with  new  organized  communities,  at 
the  same  time  the  growth  of  the  city  populations 
has  been  even  more  wonderful. 

The  fact  of  the  great  and  rapid  growth  of  these 
centers  of  population  is  not  of  itself  an  unmixed 
peril.  It  has  its  advantages,  bringing  people  near 
together,  so  they  can  be  easily  reached,  and  making 
Christian  labors  less  obtrusix'e  and  open  to  carping 
criticism.  The  question  of  peril  for  the  large  cities 
starts  from  this  point — the  rapid  growth  of  the  pop- 
ulations producing  great  demands  for  religious  pro- 
vision. To  follow  up  the  growth  of  these  great  cities, 
to  furnish  them  with  religious  influences,  to  make 
lodgment  of  Christian  truth  in  the  hearts  of  these 
intensely  surging  masses,  and  capture  and  hold  them 
to  Christianity,  is  a  task  of  no  small  magnitude. 

The  manifold  large  corrupt  elements  concen- 
trated in  the  cities  produce  hideous  congestions  of 
evil,  for  such  the  slums  may  be  characterized. 
These  re-enforcements  come  from  several  sources. 
Our  rural  districts  send  valuable  additions  of  virtue, 

intelligence,  enterprise,  and  real  stamina  ;  but  other 
24 


356      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

classes  of  a  very  different  type  pour  into  the  cities 
— uneasy,  restless,  roving  adventurers,  needy  and 
greedy  men  and  women,  thriftless  families,  many 
weary  of  the  sweat  of  honest  toil,  many  whose  grow- 
ing viciousness  shuns  the  light  and  gaze  of  village 
streets,  others  w'hose  overmastering  propensities  to 
evil  bre.ik  from  the  restraints  of  staid  communities 
and  seek  large  indulgence  ;  others  fleeing  from  the 
wreck  of  better  fortunes,  and  others  from  the  wreck 
of  character.  With  such  tides  pouring  into  them, 
portions  of  the  cities  become  large  festering,  fer- 
menting slums. 

Commerce,  witli  its  great  advantages,  brings  seri- 
ous disadvantages  to  the  large  maritime  cities. 
With  their  widely  extended  commercial  intercom- 
munication with  the  whole  world  there  comes 
familiarity  with  the  vices  of  the  nations — an  enlarged 
community  of  evil.  The  great  seaports  absorb  the 
concentrated  vices  of  the  Avorld,  and  in  these  days 
of  quick  and  easy  transit  the  inland  cities  and  rural 
towns  are  easily  inoculated  with  every  evil  virus 
known  in  the  world-wide  community  of  iniquity. 
We  have  quarantine  protection  against  foreign  pes- 
tilences, but  none  against  foreign  vices. 

Furthermore,  the  law  of  growth  inheres  in  sin. 
Large  aggregates  of  vicious  characters  intensify  evil 
and  produce  monstrous  developments  of  iniquity. 
Thus  large  cities  become  the  strongholds  of  devil- 
dom, where   "  Satan's  seat    is,"   and   saloonocracy. 


Morals.  357 

prostitution,  gambling,  and  a  long  list  of  nameless 
wrongs  are  rampant.  The  slums  are  babels  of  moral 
confusion,  of  manifold  tongues  and  manifold  crimes, 
in  crowding  regiments,  besieging  and  beating  back 
law  and  order.  These  terribly  lapsed  masses  seem 
utterly  devoid  of  hope  or  desire  for  elevation,  indif- 
ferent to  imitation  and  instruction,  and  defiant 
toward  remonstrance  and  warning. 

The  American  policy  of  rule  by  the  people  is 
being  put  to  a  severe  test.  Some  time  ago  we  be- 
came familiar  with  the  phrase  "  ring  rule  ;  "  but  we 
have  passed  far  down  beyond  that,  and  now  hear 
much  of  "gang  rule"  and  "thug  rule."  In  some 
cities  a  large  part  of  the  primaries  are  held  in 
low  saloons,  which  good  citizens  will  not  enter ; 
hence  the  administration  of  city  affairs  is  determined 
by  the  lowest  and  most  corrupt  elements  of  the 
population.  Political  service  on  the  recommenda- 
tions of  saloon  keepers  too  often  determine  the 
appointment  of  police.  It  is  the  old  story  of  the 
wolves  selecting  the  dogs  to  guard  the  sheep-fold. 

The  "  Congregationalist  "  (June  14,  1894)  said: 

Our  republican  form  of  government  has  developed  in  recent 
years  a  kind  of  monarchy  peculiar  to  America,  impossible  in  a 
republic  except  where  suffrage  is  practically  universal.  It  is 
as  absolute  as  was  that  of  the  Caesars.  It  is  not  tiie  gift  of  the 
people,  but  a  simple  usurpation  of  power,  in  most  cases  by  for- 
eign rulers. 

Though  our  monarchs  do  not  receive  their  ofiiice  by  election 
of  citizens,  they  direct  popular  elections  so  as  to  reward  their 


358      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

subordinates  with  offices.  Tiiej^  wear  no  royal  titles,  though 
the  peculiarly  American  title  of  "  boss"  is  generally  given  them 
by  their  subjects.  They  are  almost  always  uneducated,  many 
of  them  having  spent  their  earlier  life  in  liquor  saloons.  But 
they  direct  the  education  of  the  children  and  youth  of  the  cities 
they  govern,  and  virtually  decide  the  amount  of  money  appro- 
priations made  for  this  purpose.  They  are  entirely  without 
moral  aims  or  restraints  or  patriotism,  but  they  profit  greatly  by 
the  civic  contentions  of  citizens  over  moral  and  patriotic  issues. 

The  biographies  of  these  men  are  more  romantic  than  those 
of  any  of  the  kings  and  emperors  of  the  Old  World.  They  fur- 
nish the  type  of  hero  for  a  large  proportion  of  American  youth. 
We  mention  a  few  of  these  monarchs  by  way  of  illustration. 
Chris.  Buckley,  born  in  Ireland,  was  in  1876  the  keeper  of  a 
liquor  saloon  in  San  Francisco.  By  hard  drinking  he  contracted 
a  disease  which  destroyed  his  eye-sight  about  fifteen  years  ago. 
He  then  reformed,  studied  diligently  the  laws  of  the  State, 
gathered  a  company  of  followers  around  him,  joined  either  po- 
litical party,  according  as  he  could  make  it  contribute  most  to 
his  selfish  purposes,  till  he  rose  to  the  position  of  absolute  mon- 
arch of  the  city.  He  is  now  in  exile  with  a  large  amount  of 
public  property.  Ed.  Murphy,  the  boss  of  Troy,  N.  Y.,  an 
Irishman,  has  been  for  many  years  a  brewer,  entered  politics 
through  the  fire  department  of  that  city,  and  became  seven 
years  ago  Chairman  of  the  Democratic  State  Committee.  He 
is  now  a  United  States  senator  from  New  York.  Chris.  Magee, 
boss  of  Pittsburg,  Pa. ;  Hugh  McLaughlin,  the  recently  de- 
throned boss  of  Brooklyn  ;  and  Richard  Croker,  just  retired 
from  the  office  of  boss  of  New  York  city,  all  came  from  Ireland. 

Croker's  history  is  a  typical  one.  He  came  to  this  country 
in  1846,  was  early  expelled  from  public  school  in  New  York, 
became  a  noted  prize  fighter  and  tough,  was  chosen  alderman 
of  his  adopted  city  in  1870,  was  indicted  for  murder  in  1874, 
but  escaped  conviction  through  the  influence  of  Tammany 
Hall ;  won  by  unscrupulous  diligence  and  skill  the  position  of 
boss  in  New  York;  without  office  or  employment  has  amassed 
wealth,  and  now  in  the  face  of  accumulating  dangers  to  the 


Morals.  359 

system  he  has  so  ably  administered,  has  voluntarily  retired,  and 
has  left  the  country.  The  investigation  of  the  police  depart- 
ment, now  being  conducted  by  the  Lexow  Committee,  shows  in 
part  the  immense  revenues  pouring  in  to  support  the  system  of 
government  by  bossism  from  payments  for  appointments  to 
public  offices,  taxes  levied  without  authority  upon  unlicensed 
saloons,  gambling  places,  and  houses  of  ill-fame. 

At  the  date  of  this  writing  the  investigation  is 
not  finished,  but  the  "  Independent,"  June  14,  said  : 

In  brief,  the  witnesses,  many  of  whom  were  keepers  of  dis- 
orderly houses,  testified  to  a  regular  system  of  extortion  by 
which  these  houses  were  allowed  to  continue  their  business,  on 
the  payment  of  the  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars  when  they 
opened,  or  at  the  beginning  of  the  term  of  a  new  police  captain, 
and  fifty  dollars  a  month.  In  a  few  cases  the  monthly  sum 
was  less  than  this,  but  the  testimony  goes  to  show  that  that 
was  the  amount  fixed  upon,  and  if  the  proprietors  of  these 
places  did  not  pay  it  their  places  were  raided.  In  each  ward 
some  one  was  appointed  to  go  around  and  gather  up  these 
monthly  contributions,  and  he  was  known  as  the  ward  man. 
When  the  police  captain  was  changed  it  generally  followed  that 
the  ward  man  was  changed.  So  long  as  these  keepers  of  dis- 
orderly houses  kept  up  their  contributions,  with  Christmas 
presents  for  the  captains  and  others,  they  were  not  disturbed. 

The  disclosures  are  worse  than  disgraceful.  Nothing  more 
sickening  could  be  imagined.  The  wages  of  sin  have  been 
filched  from  the  shameless  creatures  of  the  stews,  and  through 
the  agents  of  the  law  Tammany  has  gorged  itself  like  an  insati- 
ate monster.  The  stench  of  the  corruption  is  awful.  Uncover 
it,  and  then  away  with  it. 

Worse  than  all  else,  the  fountain-head  of  Justice 
is  sometimes  submissive  to  "  the  gang,"  and  roughs 
arrested  are  discharged  because  they  "  stand  well  " 
with    "  the    boss,"    usually  a  saloon    keeper.      The 


360      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

overmuch  politics  with  which  this  country  is  cursed, 
and  the  constantly  recurring  elections,  place  the  ad- 
ministration of  law  at  the  mercy  of  the  ruffianly 
elements,  and  ward  politics  becomes  a  trade,  in 
which  robbery  and  lawlessness  are  connived  at. 
Gang  rule  prevails  wherever  ward  politicians  bid  the 
police  stand  aside,  and  force  the  police  justice  to 
utter  decisions  in  the  interest  of  disorder. 

Even  the  registration  lists  in  these  cities,  under 
the  manipulation  of  the  gangs,  are  falsified.  A  few 
years  ago  the  St.  Louis  papers  moralized  over  the 
degeneracy  of  the  city  politics,  and  put  the  respon- 
sibility upon  "the  good  men  who  do  not  vote." 
But  many  of  the  best  citizens  replied  that  "  for 
years  the  registration  lists  have  been  the  chief  in- 
strument used  by  the  worst  elements  for  their  fraud- 
ulent purposes  ;  "  that  "  the  registry  of  voters  has 
not  afforded  the  slightest  protection  against  fraud- 
ulent voting  ;  "  that  there  "  has  not  been  an  honest 
election  in  this  city  for  years ;  "  that  "  hotel  regis- 
ters have  been  transferred  to  the  voting  lists,  and 
men  have  been  found  to  vote  upon  the  names  ;  "  that 
"the  ballot-boxes  are  often  in  the  hands  of  men 
whose  Satanic  mathematics  will  produce  any  kind  of 
election  result  desired;"  and  that  such  things  are 
"  carried  on  with  connivance  of  the  party  in  power," 
and  "  why,  therefore,  should  good  men  trouble  them- 
selves in  the  vain  effort  to  make  an  honest  ballot  over- 
balance fraudulent  returns?"  With  "thugs"  installed 


Morals.  361 

as  election  judges,  how  farcical  must  be  the  elec- 
tions. Primary  meetings  are  packed,  nominations 
controlled,  elections  dictated,  and  ballots  counted  to 
suit.  Similar  facts  are  given  concerning  Cincinnati, 
Chicago,  Albany,  the  north  end  of  Boston,  etc. 

It  is  said  that  the  erection  of  many  costly,  mag- 
nificent churches,  to  meet  the  desires  of  wealthy, 
aristocratic  families,  has  conveyed  the  impression  of 
caste  to  less  favored  people,  has  increased  the  cost 
of  church  attendance,  and  has  put  many  families  in 
a  position  of  so  great  social  disparity  that,  feeling 
ill  at  ease,  they  have  withdrawn  from  the  sanctuary 
and  fallen  away  from  public  worship  altogether. 
There  have  been  many  complaints  of  churches  of 
"the  few  elect,  select  people;  "  of  churches  man- 
aged on  "  the  high  plane  of  financial  and  aristocratic 
exclusiveness  ;  "  of  expensive  churches  which  screw 
out  of  the  people  pew  assessments  and  pew  rents, 
and  drive  the  people  away  from  the  sanctuary ;  of 
churches  which  have  ceased  to  imitate  the  great 
Master  who  "  ate  with  publicans  and  sinners,"  and 
"went  about  doing  good." 

A  citizenship  unassimilated  with  the  national, 
moral,  and  religious  life  of  any  people  is  a  peril. 
We  are  unable  to  produce  from  the  pages  of  history 
an  example  of  a  nation  so  greatly  exposed  to  peril 
at  this  point  as  our  own ;  and  the  sources  of  this 
peril  are  concentrating  in  the  large  cities  more  than 
anywhere  else.     If  the  additions  to  our  city  popu- 


362      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

lation  were  homogeneous  in  race  and  general  ideas, 
the  case  would  be  more  tolerable.  How  different 
is  London,  with  only  1.6  per  cent,  of  its  immense 
population  born  outside  the  British  Isles.  How 
much  easier  there  the  work  of  reform,  philanthropy, 
and  evangelization  than  in  the  heterogeneous  popu- 
lations of  our  American  cities.  In  our  urban  cen- 
ters we  find  every  conceivable  nationality,  as  well 
as  all  shades  of  religion,  and  the  darker  shadows  of 
no  religion,  and  many  persons  owning  supreme  al- 
legiance to  a  foreign  pontiff. 

How  diverse  the  civilization,  the  religious  ideas, 
the  social  customs,  the  culture,  and  no-culture  of 
our  new-comers.  Among  them  are  some,  a  goodly 
number,  whom  we  are  glad  to  recognize,  welcome, 
and  honor  as  desirable  additions  to  our  citizenship. 
With  liberal  allowance  for  such,  nevertheless,  it  will 
not  be  denied  that,  as  a  whole,  these  heterogenous 
masses,  with  habits,  sympathies,  political  and  relig- 
ious predilections  so  unlike  and  positively  antago- 
nistic to  those  of  our  native  population,  have  weighed 
heavily  against  us.  Coming  in  large  crowds,  pour- 
ing into  the  cities  as  new  and  distinct  nationalities, 
keeping  up  "Old  World"  customs,  introducing 
crude  and  sometimes  revolutionary  opinions  into  our 
elections,  massing  and  effectually  controlling  their 
forces,  they  have  set  aside  the  American  Sabbath, 
opened  Sunday  theaters,  beer  gardens,  infidel  clubs, 
communistic  societies,  and  anarchistic  leagues,  in- 


Morals.  363 

augurated  mobocracy,  and  copiously  filled  up  the 
ranks  of  the  social  outcasts. 

In  these  facts  lie  the  most  serious  perils  of  the 
cities.  How  grievously  have  morals  been  de- 
bauched, pauperism,  insanity,  and  crime  augmented, 
and  moral  progress  retarded  by  these  exotic  masses. 
The  problem  of  city  evangelization  has  been  incon- 
ceivably enhanced  in  difificulty,  and  its  solution  in- 
definitely postponed,  by  the  continual  addition  of 
these  radical  socialistic  pauper  and  criminal  classes, 
as  too  many  really  arc.  Under  such  circumstances 
it  has  become  a  grave  question.  Can  Old  World  sub- 
jects be  transformed  into  New  World  citizens  ? 

Our  cities  more  than  any  other  part  of  the  coun- 
try have  received  large  installments  of  foreign  rad- 
icalism. The  communistic,  anarchistic,  and  other 
radical  revolutionary  theories,  assailing  government, 
social  order,  and  religion,  have  been  promulgated  in 
the  largest  centers  of  our  population.  The  spirit  of 
atheism  is  in  the  air.  It  comes  largely  from  the  Old 
World.  It  steams  from  the  slums.  It  organizes  in 
leagues.  It  has  presses.  Large  batches  of  atheism 
and  socialism  are  published  in  New  York  andChicago. 
They  proclaim  anarchy  as  a  scheme  of  freedom,  and 
freedom  is  a  popular  word.  Inflammable  edicts  issue 
from  the  atheistic  press,  outspoken,  defiant,  steeped 
in  the  spirit  of  denial,  frothing  with  venom,  and  so 
shocking  with  rage  that  our  blood  chills  while  we 
read.    They  are  disseminated  with  a  dead-in-earnest 


364      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

zeal  and  diligence.  These  things  are  done  among 
the  worst  classes  of  our  foreign-born  population. 

Fourteen  or  fifteen  centuries  ago,  said  a  writer  in 
the  "  Congregationalist,"  our  British  ancestry  asked 
the  Anglo-Saxons  to  help  them  in  their  struggles 
against  the  Picts  and  Scots.  The  Saxons  complied 
with  this  request,  but  after  the  enemy  had  been  de- 
feated, remained  to  hold  sway  over  the  Britains.  Are 
we  not  repeating  the  old  experiment  ?  Our  Western 
cities  are  rapidly  becoming  Germanized  and  our  New 
England  cities  Irishized.  We  are  being  dominated 
by  those  who  were  invited  to  share  in,  not  to  over- 
turn, our  beneficent  institutions.  The  aggressive 
radicalism  of  our  adopted  German  citizens  has  al- 
ready projected  crises  in  more  than  one  of  our  great 
cities,  and  Boston  and  some  other  New  England 
cities  are  shuddering  over  their  dubious  prospects. 

The  most  prominent  antagonism  to  our  religious 
life  comes  in  an  organised  form,  dominated  and  di- 
rected by  a  foreign  pontiff  who  assumes  to  include 
educational,  social,  religious,  and  political  matters 
within  the  scope  of  his  administration.  Romanism 
has  concentrated  her  adherents  in  the  cities.  Take 
out  this  element  and  carry  us  back  to  the  condition 
in  1850,  and  how  different  the  city  problem.  The 
multiplication  of  large  and  imposing  churches  and 
other  ecclesiastical  edifices  by  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  had  greatly  impressed  the  public,  and  ex- 
cited alarm  in  some  quarters.      Exaggerated  state- 


r.iovfi  Situation  or  124  Larue  <- itiks  of  25,000  Inhabitants  and  Ovkk  in  1890. 

Tnl.Ie  XXIII  Appendix.  Toinl  populaiioii,  13,988.938. 

Koinan  Caiholic  communiaints,  21.5  i>fi-  tent,  of  wlmlc  pop.  of  said  cilie?, 
popiilaliou,        24.7 


Roman  Calholics  reckon  tlit-ir  )ioimlatinn  al  15  per  ccni.  more  llian  Uicii 
I'roic^ianis  reckon  ilie  Protcstanr  populalion  ai  3J  Umef.  Iheiv  commntiic 


Morals.  365 

ments  in  regard  to  luunbcrs  are  often  paraded  before 
the  public.  No  exact  data  has  existed  to  tell  the 
numerical  strength  of  Roman  Catholic  adherents  in 
the  cities,  until  the  Census  of  1890  collected  and 
tabulated  by  H.  K.  Carroll,  LL.D.     (See  Appendix, 

P-  713-) 

Nor  should  the  increase  of  Roman  Catholic 
churches  be  regarded  as  an  unmixed  evil.  In  some 
respects  it  is  an  encouraging  indication.  Without 
these  religious  agencies  how  could  our  foreign 
masses  be  held  in  check  and  controlled,  especially 
in  times  of  panic  and  other  provocations  to  violence. 
The  argument  might  be  extended  further. 

The  numerous  efforts  for  city  evangelization,  more 
extensively  organized  since  1870,  are  developing  en- 
couraging results.  The  Young  Men's  Christian 
Associations  and  the  powerful  evangelistic  labors 
carried  on  in  most  cities  have  all  contributed  to 
this  result.  The  relative  decline  of  Roman  Cath- 
olic immigration,  and  the  large  Protestant  immi- 
gration since  1870,  have  also  been  helping  factors. 

While  looking  at  the  perils  of  the  present  time  let 
us  not  pessimize  the  situation.  There  is  a  judicial 
view  of  the  case  which  will  not  diminish  our  sense 
of  present  responsibilit}',  but  will  give  a  healthier, 
steadier,  and  more  courageous  tone  to  our  efforts. 
It  is  very  doubtful  whether  any  such  aggressive 
Christianity  in  large  cities  can  be  cited  from  the 
history  of  any  previous  century  ;  certainly  not  in  the 


366      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

last  two  centuries  can  be  found  such  progress  as  we 
have  witnessed  in  our  large  cities  during  the  last 
fifty  years.  The  Protestant  churches  of  the  few 
cities  in  this  country,  and  in  the  larger  and  more 
numerous  cities  of  Great  Britain  and  all  other  Prot- 
estant countries  during  the  last  century,  were  in  a 
low,  cold,  stagnant  condition,  wholly  unaggressive. 
In  the  last  half  of  the  last  century  there  was  a  little 
waking  up  in  Great  Britain,  but  nothing  like  what 
we  have  seen  liere  in  the  last  fifty  years.  Had  we 
possessed  no  more  vital  power  than  the  churches  of 
the  last  century  and  of  almost  all  the  previous  cent- 
uries, with  the  great  tides  of  foreign  immigration, 
Romanism,  rationalism,  and  socialism  coming  in 
upon  us,  we  would  have  been  utterly  swamped,  and 
our  churches  would  have  wholly  disappeared  from 
our  cities.  We  must  recognize  the  value  of  the 
breakwater  that  has  kept  us  from  being  submerged, 
the  Eddystone  lighthouses  that  have  stood  firmly 
where  dreadful  waves  have  been  breaking,  the  last 
havens  maintained  where  stores,  comfort,  and  refuge 
could  be  offered  wild,  venturesome  voyagers. 

We  are  learning  that  the  large  metropolitan  cities 
contain  not  only  the  concentrated  vices  of  the  world, 
but  also  the  intensest  concentrations  of  good  forces. 
While  these  large  aggregations  of  evil  have  been 
gathering  we  have  also  been  organizing  and  centrat- 
ing  in  the  cities  great  benevolent,  philanthropic, 
educational,  and  evangelizing  societies  and  boards, 


Morals.  367 

for  which  only  the  feeblest  parallels  could  be  found 
one  or  two  hundred  years  ago,  and  in  many  large 
cities  no  parallels  at  all. 

When  we  become  depressed  and  gloomy  over  the 
great  corruptions  of  our  large  cities,  and  feel  like 
sinking  under  the  discouraging  prospect,  let  us  read 
what  Lecky  says  about  the  large  cities  of  Great 
Britain  in  the  last  century,  and  then  turn  to  the 
still  grosser  condition  of  the  cities  of  the  European 
continent  at  that  time.  The  evils  we  see  in  our  Amer- 
ican cities  impress  us  deeply,  because  we  see  them  on 
the  background  of  the  clearest  Christian  civilization 
that  ever  illumined  the  world.  The  old  Roman  world 
never  looked  so  dark  and  revolting  as  it  did  after 
Christianity  poured  into  it  her  divine  illumination. 

Let  us  join  with  Dr.  Guthrie  in  sa}-ing: 

I  bless  God  for  cities.  I  recognize  a  wise  and  gracious  prov- 
idence in  their  existence.  The  world  had  not  been  what  it  is 
without  them.  The  disciples  were  commanded  to  begin  at 
Jerusalem,  and  Paul  threw  himself  into  the  cities  of  the  ancient 
world,  as  offering  the  most  commanding  positions  of  influence. 
Cities  have  been  as  lamps  of  light  along  the  pathway  of  human- 
ity and  religion.  Within  them  science  has  given  birth  to  her 
noblest  discoveries.  Behind  their  walls  freedom  has  fought  her 
noblest  battle.  They  have  stood  on  the  surface  of  the  earth 
like  great  breakwaters,  rolling  back  or  turning  aside  the 
swelling  tide  of  oppression.  Cities  have  been  indeed  the  cradle 
of  human  liberty.  They  have  been  the  radiating  active  centers 
of  almost  all  Church  and  State  reformations.  Having,  there- 
fore, no  sympathy  with  those  who,  regarding  them  as  the  ex- 
crescences of  a  tree  or  the  tumors  of  a  disease,  would  raze  cities 
to  the  ground,  I  bless  God  for  cities. 


368      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Then  let  our  motto  be,  Capture  and  hold  the  cities 
for  Christ,  as  the  vital  strategic  points  of  his  ad- 
vancing kingdom.* 


Criticisins  and  Testimonies. 

It  has  been  well  said,  "  It  takes  but  little  length 
of  line  to  touch  the  bottom  "  of  such  criticisms  on 
current  morals  as  appeared  in  the  October  "  Atlan- 
tic "  in  1880.  But  many  good  people  inconsider- 
ately indorse  such  criticisms,  notwithstanding  "they 
come  not  much  short  of  violating  the  ninth  com- 
mandment." There  is  much  carping  and  unjust 
depreciation  of  our  times,  a  whining  tone  of  dis- 
trust, and  an  exaggerated  confession,  often  both 
unintelligent  and  unmanly.  A  sensational  press 
parades,  in  exaggerated  and  highly  colored  forms, 
the  disgusting  details  of  pollution,  and  many  eagerly 
catch  them  up,  depreciate  the  present,  and  pro- 
nounce lofty  eulogiums  upon  the  past.  Many  are 
notoriously  incapable  of  appreciating  the  virtues  of 
the  age  in  which  they  live,  but  have  a  keen  scent 
for  corruption,  a  horrid  relish  for  scandal,  look  with 
a  fixed  contracted  gaze  upon  the  ulcers  which  af- 
flict their  fellows,  and  presume  that  every  body  else 
but  themselves  has  ulcers. 

*  For  a  fuller  discussion  of  the  Perils  of  Cities,  by  the  author  and 
others,  see  "Problems  of  Amei-ican  Christianity."  New  York: 
Baker,  Taylor  &  Co. 


Morals.  369 

If  we  search  the  records  of  the  past  for  contein- 
poraneous  recognitions  of  a  golden  age,  we  shall 
fail  to  find  them.  In  the  course  of  our  review  we 
have  found  men  of  each  generation  dwelling  upon 
the  degeneracy  of  their  age,  and  the  preachers 
thundering  against  its  unprecedented  vices.  "  The 
present  always  lies  bare  to  the  gaze,  with  all  its  de- 
formities and  hideousness  in  view,  while  the  enchant- 
ment of  distance  hangs  over  the  past." 

But,  thank  God,  there  are  not  wanting  those  of 
high  intelligence,  of  accurate  observation,  of  close 
scrutiny,  who  have  studied  the  moral  condition  of 
our  times  in  the  light  of  preceding  ages,  who  hail 
the  multiplying  indications  of  the  brightening  days. 

Theodore  Parker  said  :  "  It  is  very  plain  that  the 
people  of  New  England  are  advancing  in  wealth, 
intelligence,  and  morality  ;  but  in  this  general  march 
there  are  little  apparent  pauses,  slight  waverings 
from  side  to  side ;  some  virtues  seem  to  straggle 
from  the  troop  ;  some  to  lag  behind,  for  it  is  not 
always  the  same  virtue  that  leads  the  van.  ...  It 
is  probable  that  the  morals  of  New  England  in  gen- 
eral, and  of  Boston  in  special,  declined  somewhat 
from  1775  to  1790.  There  were  peculiar  but  well- 
known  causes,  which  no  longer  exist,  to  work  the 
result.  .  .  .  To  estimate  the  moral  growth  or  de- 
cline of  this  town  we  must  not  take  either  period  as  a 
standard.  But  take  the  history  of  Boston,  from  1650 
to  1700,  from  1700  to  1750,  and  thence  to  1800,  and 


370       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

you  will  see  a  gradual  but  decided  progress  in 
morality  in  each  of  these  periods.  From  1800  to 
1849  th^s  progress  is  indisputable  and  well  marked. 
Let  us  look  at  this  a  little  in  detail. 

"  It  is  generally  conceded  that  the  moral  charac- 
ter of  trade  has  improved  a  good  deal  within  fifty 
or  sixty  years.  It  was  formerly  a  common  saying 
that,  '  If  a  Yankee  merchant  were  to  sell  salt  water 
at  high  tide,  he  would  cheat  in  the  measure.'  The 
saying  was  founded  on  the  conduct  of  American 
traders  abroad,  in  the  West  Indies  and  elsewhere. 
Now  things  have  been  changed  for  the  better.  I 
have  been  told  by  competent  authority  that  two 
of  the  most  eminent  merchants  of  Boston,  fifty  or 
sixty  years  ago,  who  conducted  each  a  large  busi- 
ness, and  left  very  large  fortunes,  were  notoriously 
guilty  of  such  dishonesty  in  trade  as  would  now 
drive  any  man  from  the  Exchange.  The  facility 
with  which  notes  are  now  collected  by  the  banks, 
compared  with  the  former  method  of  collection,  is 
itself  a  proof  of  the  increase  of  practical  honesty ; 
the  law  for  settling  the  affairs  of  a  bankrupt  tells 
the  same  thing.  Now  this  change  has  not  come 
from  any  special  effort ;  and  consequently  it  indi- 
cates the  general  moral  progress  of  the  community.'* 

After  speaking  of  the  improvement  of  the  moral 
tone  of  the  press,  he  says  :  "  Yet  a  publicity  is  now- 
adays given  to  certain  things  which  were  formerly 
kept    more    closely   from    the  public   eye  and  ear. 


Morals.  ,  37 1 

This  circumstance  produces  an  apparent  increase  of 
wrong-doing,  while  it  is  only  an  increase  of  public- 
ity thereof.  .  .  .  There  has  been  a  great  change  for 
the  better  in  the  matter  of  intemperance  in  drink- 
ing. .  .  .  Probably  there  is  not  a  respectable  man 
who  would  not  be  ashamed  to  be  seen  drunk,  in 
ever  so  private  a  manner,  or  who  would  willingly 
get  a  friend  or  a  guest  in  that  condition  to-day. 
Go  back  a  few  years,  and  it  brought  no  public 
reproach,  and,  I  fear,  no  private  shame.  A  few 
years  further  back,  it  was  not  a  rare  thing,  on  great 
occasions,  for  the  fathers  of  the  town  to  reel  and 
stagger  from  their  intemperance." 

Another  eminent  gentleman  said  :  "  The  present 
age  is  not  pre-eminently  a  bad  one.  On  the  con- 
trary, I  believe  the  present  age  to  be  the  purest  and 
best  the  world  has  ever  seen.  It  is  not  an  age  of 
gross  licentiousness,  either  in  life  or  literature,  as 
some  former  ages  have  been.  The  student  of  liter- 
ature meets  few  'terrible  temptations.'  Writers 
like  Tom  Paine  would  be  to-day  turned  out  of  the 
synagogues  of  skeptics." 

The  late  Hon.  Rufus  Choate  is  said  to  have 
maintained  that  there  had  been  a  decided  growth 
in  political  and  personal  morality  since  the  early 
days  of  the  Union,  and  two  Massachusetts  gentle- 
men with  whom  he  was  conversing,  as  well  quali- 
fied as  any  to  judge  of  such  matters,  concurred  in 

his  views. 
25 


372       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

The  editor  of  a  leading  secular  daily*  said:  "  If 
we  look  back  over  the  history  of  England,  even  in 
modern  times,  we  shall  easily  note  several  distinct 
periods  when  the  moral  tone  of  the  nation  was  low, 
politics  were  corrupt,  and  every  thing  apparently 
tending  to  ruin.  And  yet  a  few  years  in  each  in- 
stance enabled  the  people  to  outgrow  these  dele- 
terious influences,  until  finally  the  age  of  Victoria 
may  be  considered,  on  the  whole,  decidedly  superior 
in  all  moral  elements  to  that  of  any  former  sover- 
eign. Nor  have  we  any  reason  to  doubt  that  the 
unfavorable  peculiarities  of  the  present  times,  in  the 
United  States,  are  ephemeral,  and  must  yet  yield 
to  the  inherent  moral  vigor  of  the  Nation." 

A  short  time  before  his  death,  Hon.  Charles 
Sumner  was  asked :  "  And  what  do  you  think,  Mr. 
Sumner,  of  our  country — are  we  going  to  destruc- 
tion?" "  No,  no,"  cried  Mr.  Sumner,  emphatically; 
"  I  believe  in  the  Republic.  I  believe  in  the  future 
of  our  country."  "  But  think  of  all  the  lawlessness, 
the  anarchy,  and  corruption  every-where  prevailing. 
We  are  treading  in  the  footsteps  of  France.  What 
can  save  us  from  falling  as  she  has  done?"  "  It  is 
true,"  he  answered,  sadly,  "  these  terrible  disclos- 
ures in  New  York,  in  Washington,  in  Kansas,  in 
Louisiana,  are  enough  to  make  us  tremble.  The 
worst  feature  of  it  is  the  apathy  of  the  people. 
When  corruption  is  discovered  the  judgment  of  the 
*  "  The  Boston  Journal,"  1875. 


Morals.  373 

people  should  strike  like  the  thunderbolt.*  After 
a  pause  his  face  brightened,  and  he  concluded : 
"  But  it  does  not  matter.  Our  people  have  im- 
mense recuperative  power.  I  believe  in  their  recu- 
perative energy.     I  believe  in  the  Republic." 

One  of  the  most  vigorously  edited  of  our  secular 
dailies,*  noted  for  its  independent  criticisms,  said : 
"  Let  the  'Atlantic  *  essayists,  and  Professors  Shedd 
and  Schopenhauer,  and  the  millenarians^  tell  us  of 
the  night.  Let  them  put  out  the  storm  signals, 
and  fix  the  buoys,  and  ring  the  fog-bells.  We  may 
have  to  slow  up  for  a  while ;  we  may  have  to  beat 
against  winds  just  now  dead  ahead,  and  currents 
drifting  strong  toward  a  lee  shore ;  but  God  lives 
as  well  as  the  devil,  and  this  pessimistic  tack  will 
bring  us,  in  the  next  wearing  of  the  ship,  well  ahead 
in  the  open  sea." 

The  stringent  morals  of  the  Puritans  are  often 
referred  to.  Rev.  Washington  Gladden  said  if"! 
should  like  to  explore  the  period  of  the  Reforma- 
tion and  the  days  of  the  earlier  Puritanism,  and 
show  you,  by  typical  cases,  how  far  inferior  to  our 
own  the  moral  standards  and  practices  of  those 
days  were.  We  should  find  them,  indeed,  vastly 
higher  and  purer  than  those  we  have  encountered 
in  the  earlier  days  of  the  Church,  for  progress  is 
the  law  of  God's  kingdom  in  the  world  ;  but  there 

♦"The  Springfield  Republican,"  1879. 

f  Thanksgiving  Discourse,  Springfield,  Mass.,  Nov.  28,  1878. 


374      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

would  be  proofs  enough  that  none  of  the  former 
days  were  better  than  these. 

"  The  kingdoms  of  this  world  are  becoming  the 
kingdoms  of  the  Lord  and  of  his  Christ.  It  is  hij 
power  that  is  doing  all  this  mighty  work.  It  is  the 
influence  of  his  Gospel,  more  than  all  other  causes 
combined,  that  has  purified  our  jurisprudence — that 
has  revealed  to  men  the  great  doctrines  of  rights,  and 
taught  them  how  to  secure  and  maintain  their 
rights ;  that  has  lifted  the  family  out  of  the  pagan 
degradations  and  the  mediaeval  corruptions  ;  that 
has  gradually  purified  the  sentiments  and  the  eth- 
ical ideas  of  society,  so  that  all  our  institutions  are 
pervaded  by  its  spirit,  and  all  our  civilization  shines 
with  the  Light  that  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh 
into  the  world." 

A  leading  religious  editor*  said:  "The  world 
never  saw  such  extensive  business  organizations  as 
at  the  present  time.  When  one  man,  like  a  Stew- 
art, can  combine  the  abilities  of  several  hundred 
men,  and  reap  the  margins  on  all  their  work,  we 
cannot  doubt  general  confidence. 

"  Take  the  single  branch  of  business  known  as 
banking.  How  it  depends  upon  letters  of  credit, 
and  on  dispatches,  and  on  statements !  Think  of 
the  millions  that  daily  pass  through  the  channels  of 
exchange,  and  how  seldom  a  penny  rolls  out  into 
any  by-way.     It  hardly  amounts  to  the  one  hun- 

♦  "  Christian  Advocate,"  Nov.  30,  1876. 


Morals.  375 

dred  thousandth  part  of  one  per  cent.  Take  the 
25,000  men  in  American  banks  that  have  it  in  their 
power  to  steal :  see  how  seldom  they  do  it.  The 
cases  will  not  average  more  than  one  every  two 
weeks,  or  one  in  a  thousand  a  year.  A  leading 
banker  said  not  long  ago,  '  I  would  be  willing  to 
take  the  men  up  from  the  street  as  we  meet  them, 
and  put  them  in  charge  of  the  vault,  saying,  "  This 
vault  is  open,  you  watch  it  for  an  hour,"  and  not 
one  in  a  hundred  would  disappoint  the  confidence.' 
We  are  not  all  abandoned.  Honesty  is  not  one  of 
the  lost  arts, 

"  Take  another  class  of  community  now  much 
abused  by  certain  secular  papers.  There  are  now 
more  than  80,000  ministers  in  the  United  States. 
Make  an  estimate  of  the  percentage  of  failures  in 
morals.  There  is  not  an  average  of  one  a  month  in 
the  entire  land.  One  in  6,500  is  not  a  bad  showing 
for  a  year.  Would  to  God  there  were  none  at  all  ! 
But  we  are  far  ahead  of  the  infant  Church,  where 
the  failures  were  one  in  twelve.  .  .  .  We  have  great 
reason  to  hope,  for  we  are  going  in  the  right  direc- 
tion. Slavery  is  not  defended,  but  dead.  Alcohol 
is  no  longer  imbibed  in  the  pulpit,  but  denounced. 
Corruption  is  not  concealed  and  apologized  for,  but 
denied  and  condemned  ;  the  cry  against  it  is  de- 
manded by  the  public  conscience.  The  Churches 
were  never  more  vigorous  in  their  evangelizing 
work.     The  credit  of  the  nation  has  been  so  estab- 


3/6      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Hshed  that  its  paper  has  advanced  from  thirty-five 
to  ninety  cents  on  the  dollar.  The  losses  on  dis- 
bursements by  corruption  and  fraud  were  never  so 
small  in  the  entire  history  of  the  country  as  at 
present. 

"  In  the  time  of  Van  Buren  the  loss  was  $21  15 
on  every  $1,000.  Now  it  is  only  twenty-six  cents. 
In  the  days  of  Buchanan,  United  States  bonds  bear- 
ing six  per  cent,  interest,  issued  to  pay  current  ex- 
penses of  the  government,  which  exceeded  the  rev- 
enues by  over  $75,000,000,  were  hawked  about  the 
country,  and  sold  vfith.  great  difficulty  at  seventeen 
per  cent,  discount.  Now  four  and  a  half  per  cent, 
bonds  sell  at  par.  Surely  capital,  which  is  the  most 
sensitive  nerve  in  the  world,  does  not  indicate  much 
distrust.  .  .  .  We  are  bad  enough,  but  we  are  bet- 
ter than  ever  in  the  past.  God  has  not  a  surplus 
of  earthly  governments  that  do  as  well  by  the 
masses  of  the  people  as  our  government  does.  We 
may  confidently  expect  him  to  use  us  as  long  as  we 
are  fit  for  use  ;  then  he  will  do  the  next  best  thing 
with  us." 

Said  another  eminent  preacher  and  writer :  "All  the 
great  ideals  of  civilized  life  of  to-day  are  baptized  in 
the  spirit  of  the  Gospel.  Ideals  are  the  engines  that 
draw  men  up  to  higher  planes  of  being.  It  is  from 
ideals  that  aspirations  spring,  and  it  is  by  them  that 
development  is  produced  ;  although  they  may  be  but 
little  flickering  lights,  they  are  like  the  north  star 


Morals.  377 

that  guides  men,  and  that  enables  them  to  find 
their  way  on  the  trackless  sea  by  its  constant  bright- 
ness. The  ideals  of  the  family,  the  ideals  of  active 
men  in  commercial  relations,  the  ideals  of  the  pa- 
triot, the  ideals  of  the  whole  civilization  of  our 
lime,  are  essentially  Christian,  Honor,  truth,  pu- 
rity, self-denial,  love,  intelligence,  and  general  man- 
liness, are  all  largely  inspired  and  shaped  by  the 
Spirit  of  Christ.  .  .  .  The  steady  shining  of  the 
Spirit  of  Christ  through  the  ages  has  imbued  laws 
and  formed  customs.  In  the  procedure  that  is  most 
universally  approved  among  civilizations  there  is  an 
element  of  Christianity  that  has  entered  into  it ;  so 
that,  besides  conceptional  Christianity  and  the 
Christianity  of  the  record  of  the  Book,  there  is  a 
concrete  Christianity,  which  consists  of  the  equity, 
purity,  justice,  love,  and  generosity  that  are  incul 
cated  by  the  customs,  public  sentiments,  laws,  and 
institutions  of  human  society."  * 

Moral  self-poise  is  one  of  the  best  tests  of  true 
progress.  The  masses  of  the  world  have  not  yet 
reached  a  perfect  equilibrium,  as  occasional  occur- 
rences remind  us  ;  but  how  much  greater  the  self- 
control  of  the  human  race  than  one  hundred  years 
ago !  Arbitrary  enactments  and  standing  armies 
are  now  little  better  than  mockeries  ;  for  men  with 
elevated  ideas  need  no  overawing  forces  to  restrain 
or  compel  them.      Popular  outbreaks  against  law 

*  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher.     1878. 


378       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

and  government,  once  so  frequent,  are  now  compara- 
tively rare,  seldom  disastrous,  and  are  usually  quieted 
by  personal  moral  influence  rather  than  by  force. 
International  difficulties,  once  decided  wholly  by 
the  sword,  are  coming  to  be  settled  chiefly  by 
diplomacy.  International  conferences  seem  destined 
to  supplant  sanguinary  encounters.  In  pending 
elections  the  sharpest  partisan  agitations,  enlisting 
however  much  of  acrimony,  and  sometimes  exciting 
painful  apprehensions  for  the  future  peace  and  sta- 
bility of  governments,  quietly  subside  with  the 
verdict  of  the  people — the  most  ardent  demagogues 
promptly  bowing  to  the  popular  will.  Men  are 
learning,  more  than  ever  before,  thai  they  can  dis- 
agree and  yet  live  happily  together.  France  has 
at  last  come,  may  we  not  believe,  after  many  unsuc- 
cessful experiments,  to  a  condition  in  which  its 
excitable  elements  are  susceptible  of  that  self-con- 
trol essential  to  republican  government.  One  hun- 
dred years  ago,  or  even  fifty  or  thirty  years  ago,  it 
was  not  possible.  England  and  America  have  also 
improved  in  this  regard.  Many  far-off  lands,  Aus- 
tralia, some  Polynesian  isles.  Southern  and  Western 
Africa,  portions  of  South  America,  and  Mexico,  only 
a  little  time  ago  dominated  by  savagery  or  an  intol- 
erant priesthood,  are  learning  the  great  moral  les- 
son of  self-government.  Thus,  under  the  tutelage 
of  Christianity,  God  is  fulfilling  the  ancient  predic- 
tion, "  /  will  write  my  laws  in  your  hearts,''  etc. 


III.    SPIRITUAL   VITALITY. 

♦ 

CHAPTER  I. 
TYPICAL  p:EI1IOX)S. 

The  Eve  of  the  Lutheran  Reformation. 
The  Eve  of  the  Wesleyan  Reformation. 
The  Eve  of  the  Edwardean  Revival. 
The  Eve  of  the  Revival  of  1800-1803. 


OP 

III -SPIRITUAL  VITALITY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

TYPICAL     PERIODS. 

SPIRITUAL  Christianity  had  almost  disap- 
peared when  Protestantism  arose.  The  spirit 
of  ecclesiasticism  was  dominant,  and  the  Roman 
hierarchy,  assuming  all  control  of  spiritual  functions, 
raised  its  imperious  head  between  the  individual 
and  his  God.  Imposing  forms  and  elaborate  cere- 
monials supplanted  spiritual  life.  Piety  retired  to 
cloisters,  which,  indeed,  developed  some  conspicu- 
ous examples,  but  disfigured  by  morbid  introspec- 
tion, abnormal  ecstasy,  physical  flagellation,  and 
antinomian  quietism.     Pining  to  dwell 

"  In  dark  monastic  cells, 

By  vows  and  grates  confined," 

these  illustrious  religionists,  whose  devotion  the 
Church  of  Rome  has  proudly  cited  as  evidences  of 
her  high  spiritual  capabilities,  overlooked  the  prime 
obligation  of  true  saintship — 

"  Freely  to  all  ourselves  we  give, 
Constrained  by  Jesus'  love  to  live 
The  servants  of  mankind." 


382      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

In  such  a  period  Luther  appeared,  protesting 
against  the  exclusive  functions  of  the  Romish  priest- 
hood, and  proclaiming  every  man  his  own  priest. 
The  theory  of  the  priesthood  of  believers,  as  an  is- 
sue with  the  hierarchy,  was  fought  out  in  the  great 
Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century  ;  but  it  was 
only  imperfectly  realized  in  the  practical  life  of  the 
Reformation  Churches.  We  recognize  it,  in  an  ex- 
cessive and  fanatical  form,  among  the  Anabaptists 
in  Germany,  who  claimed  immediate  and  even 
prophetic  inspiration,  and,  a  little  later,  among  the 
early  Quakers.  It  had  a  better  but  yet  imperfect 
development  among  the  Puritans. 

Absorbed  in  the  outward  battle  of  great  princi- 
ples, the  Reformation,  in  its  earlier  stages,  did  not 
exhibit  much  spirituality,  except  in  some  of  its  best 
leaders,  in  whose  hearts  the  most  radical  truths 
were  combined  with  intense  religious  devotion. 
Nor  did  early  Protestantism  exhibit  much  mis- 
sionary and  soul-saving  power.  The  subject  of 
spiritual  regeneration  did  not  receive  the  distinct- 
ive prominence  which  it  had  in  the  primitive 
Church. 

Before  the  death  of  Luther  all  Northern  Europe 
had  broken  away  from  the  Papacy,  and  the  Refor- 
mation was  established  by  law.  Great  religious 
wars  occurred,  extending  through  three  generations, 
during  which  the  spirituality  of  Protestantism  was 
extinguished  and  its  aggressive  power  lost.     It  be- 


SviRiTUAL  Vitality.  3^3 

came  political,  and  contented  itself  with  maintain 
ing  itself  within  its  own  limits. 

From  Luther  to  Wesley  few  revivals  occurred, 
except  at  long  intervals,  among  the  Presbyterians  in 
Scotland,  the  Moravians,  and  in  some  of  the  earliest 
Churches  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony.  One  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  ago  spiritual  death  and  formalism 
pervaded  the  Protestant  Churches  of  Europe  and 
America.  No  aggressive  impulse,  no  lay  activities, 
no  outgoing  desire  for  the  salvation  of  the  world, 
marked  the  period.  The  New  England  Churches 
had  a  few  feeble  missions  among  the  Indians ;  En- 
glish Protestantism  had  one  society  that  reached 
beyond  the  British  Isles— the  "  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,"  or- 
ganized in  1701  for  the  benefit  of  English  colonists 
on  foreign  shores,  not  for  heathen  populations;  and 
on  the  Continent  of  Europe  a  missionary  afflatus 
had  just  come  upon  the  Moravians,  under  which 
they  went  forth  to  sublime  achievements. 

It  will  now  be  necessary  to  sketch  the  progress 
of  Protestantism  more  in  detail,  and  examine  closely 
the  changing  phases  of  its  history.  As  we  do  so 
we  shall  notice  at  considerable  length  the  period  of 
spiritual  decadence  in  England  and  America  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  from  which,  in  the 
former  country,  it  emerged  into  a  gradual  develop- 
ment for  more  than  a  century  ;  and,  in  the  latter, 
it  partially  and  temporarily  emerged,  but  was  fol- 


384      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

lowed  by  another  period  of  decline,  from  which  it 
has  since  risen  into  grander  life  and  progress  than 
ever  before. 

It  should  be  kept  in  mind  that  Protestantism 
never  claimed  perfection.  Exceedingly  immature 
at  first,  and  ever  a  growth,  it  started  upon  its  career 
with  great  disadvantages,  heavily  encumbered  with 
relics  of  popery  and  mediaeval  life,  beclouding  its 
vision,  depressing  its  spirituality,  dividing  its  coun- 
sels, and  holding  its  laity  in  partial  bondage.  The 
English  Reformation,  embarrassed  with  state  pat- 
ronage, imperfectly  restored  the  primitive  idea  of 
Christianity  as  "  the  kingdom  of  God  within." 
Typical  examples  of  spirituality  under  the  English 
Reformation,  Churchmen  and  Puritans,  bright  and 
worthy  of  their  times,  fall  below  more  recent  stand- 
ards. Pure  and  noble  men  they  were,  in  advance 
of  the  next  preceding  centuries,  and  some  of  them 
ahead  of  their  own  age  ;  but  the  spiritual  influence 
of  the  movement  was  confined  to  narrow  circles. 

Southey  says  :  "  Among  the  educated  classes  too 
little  care  was  taken  to  imbue  them  early  with  this 
better  faith  ;  and  too  little  exertion  used  for  awak- 
ening them  from  the  pursuits  and  vanities  of  this 
world  to  a  salutary  and  healthful  contemplation  of 
that  which  is  to  come.  And  there  was  the  heavier 
evil  that  the  greater  part  of  the  nation  were  totally 
uneducated — Christians  no  further  than  the  mere 
ceremony  of  baptism — being  for  the  most  part  in  a 


Spiritual  Vitality.  385 

state  of  heathen,  or  worse  than  heathen,  ignorance. 
In  truth,  they  had  never  been  converted  ;  for,  at 
first,  one  idolatry  had  been  substituted  for  another 
— in  this  they  had  followed  the  fashion  of  their 
lords — and  when  the  Romish  idolatry  was  expelled, 
the  change  on  their  part  was  still  a  matter  of  nec- 
essary submission.  They  were  left  as  ignorant  of 
real  Christianity  as  they  were  found." 

With  such  a  view  of  the  English  Reformation  it 
is  not  surprising  that  it  was  subject  to  alternations 
and  reactions,  and  that  the  rigorous  dispensation  of 
the  Puritan  Cromwell  should  be  followed  by  the  lax 
and  dissolute  reign  of  Charles  II.  Churchmen  and 
Nonconformists  alike  bear  concurrent  testimony 
respecting  the  low  condition  of  religion  from  the 
time  of  Charles  II.  to  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  The  reaction  against  Puritanism,  follow- 
ing the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts,  left  a  universal 
blight  upon  the  nation.  A  total  irreligion  and  life- 
less formality  spread  every- where.  A  haughty  dis- 
like repelled  the  spiritualities  of  religion.  Arch- 
bishop Leighton  complained  that  the  Church  was 
"  a  fair  carcass  without  a  spirit." 

The  pathetic  lamentation  of  Bishop  Burnet,*  in 
1713,  on  the  state  of  the  Church,  has  often  been 
quoted  :  "  I  am  now,"  he  says,  "  in  the  seventieth 
year  of  my  age,  and,  as  I  cannot  speak  long  in  the 
world  in  any  sort,  so  I  cannot  hope  for  a  more 
*  "  Pastoral  Care." 


386       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

solemn  occasion  than  this  of  speaking  with  all  due 
freedom,  both  to  the  present  and  to  the  succeeding 
ages.  Therefore  I  lay  hold  on  it  to  give  a  free 
vent  to  those  sad  thoughts  that  lie  in  my  mind, 
both  day  and  night,  and  are  the  subject  of  many 
secret  musings.  I  cannot  look  on  without  the 
deepest  concern  when  I  see  the  imminent  ruin 
hanging  over  this  Church,  and,  by  consequence, 
over  the  whole  Reformation.  The  outward  state 
of  things  is  black  enough,  God  knows,  but  that 
which  heightens  my  fears  rises  chiefly  from  the  in- 
ward state  into  which  we  are  unhappily  fallen." 
Referring  to  the  condition  of  the  clergy,  he  says : 
"  Our  ember-weeks  are  the  burden  and  grief  of  my 
life.  The  much  greater  part  of  those  who  come  to 
be  ordained  are  ignorant  to  a  degree  not  to  be  ap- 
prehended by  those  who  are  not  obliged  to  know 
it.  The  easiest  part  of  knowledge  is  that  to  which 
they  are  the  greatest  strangers.  Those  who  have 
read  some  few  books  yet  never  seem  to  have  read 
the  Scriptures.  Many  cannot  give  a  tolerable  ac- 
count even  of  the  Catechism  itself,  how  short  and 
plain  soever.  This  does  often  tear  my  heart.  The 
case  is  not  much  better  in  many,  who,  having  got 
into  orders,  come  for  institution,  and  cannot  make 
it  appear  that  they  have  read  the  Scriptures  or  any 
one  good  book  since  they  were  ordained,  so  that 
the  small  measure  of  knowledge  upon  which  they 
got  into  holy  orders  not  being  improved,  is  in   a 


Spiritual  Vitality.  3S7 

way  to  be  quite  lost  ;  and  then  they  think  it  a 
great  hardship  if  they  are  told  they  must  know  the 
Scriptures  and  the  body  of  divinity  better  before 
they  can  be  trusted  with  the  care  of  souls." 

Watts  declared  that  there  was  "  a  general  decay 
of  vital  religion  in  the  hearts  and  lives  of  men  ;" 
that  this  condition  extended  "  to  Dissenters  as  well 
as  Churchmen  ;"  that  it  was  "  a  matter  of  mournful 
observation  among  all  who  lay  the  cause  of  God  to 
heart  ;"  and  he  called  upon  "  every  one  to  use  all 
possible  efforts  for  the  recovery  of  dying  religion  in 
the  world."  *  Another  writer  asserts  that  "  the 
Spirit  of  God  had  so  far  departed  from  the  nation 
that  hereby  almost  all  vital  religion  is  lost  out  of 
the  world."  t  The  "Weekly  Miscellany"  (1732) 
said  :  "  The  people  are  engulfed  in  voluptuousness 
and  business,  and  a  zeal  for  godliness  looks  as  odd 
upon  a  man  as  would  the  antiquated  dress  of  a 
great-grandfather." 

In  Scotland,  under  the  early  visits  of  Whitefield, 
the  Churches  were  somewhat  quickened,  but  the 
work  was  limited  in  extent  and  power  by  divisions 
and  dissensions,  and  was  followed  by  a  deeper 
moral  slumber,  called  "  the  midnight  of  the 
Church."  The  infidelity  of  the  times  had  infected 
the  ministr)'-,  and  only  tame  "  moral  sermons,"  after 
the  style  of  Blair,  were  preached,  and  convivial  cir- 

*  Preface  to  his  "  Humble  Attempt,"  etc. 
f  Harrison's  "  Sermons  on  the  Holy  Spirit  " 
2(3 


388       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

cles  were  more  attractive  than  pulpits  to  the  clergy. 
Dr.  Hamilton  said  :  '*  To  deliver  a  Gospel  sermon, 
or  to  preach  to  the  consciences  of  dying  sinners, 
was  as  completely  beyond  their  power  as  to  speak 
in  the  language  of  angels.  .  .  .  The  congregations 
rarely  amounted  to  a  tenth  of  the  parishioners,  and 
one  half  of  this  small  number  were  generally,  dur- 
ing the  half-hour  soporific  harangue,  fast  asleep. 
They  were  free  from  hypocrisy ;  they  had  no  more 
religion  in  private  than  in  public." 

A  writer  in  "  Blackwood's  Magazine  "  said  of  that 
period  that  it  was  "  singularly  devoid,  not  only 
of  religion,  but  of  all  spirituality  of  mind,  or  refer- 
ence to  things  unseen.  ...  It  was  one  of  the  mo- 
ments in  which  the  world  had  fallen  out  of  thought 
of  God.  Other  ages  may  have  been  as  wicked,  but 
we  doubt  whether  any  age  had  learned  so  entirely 
to  forget  its  connection  with  higher  things,  or  the 
fact  that  a  soul  which  did  not  die — an  immortal 
being  akin  to  other  spheres — was  within  its  clay. 
The  good  men  were  inoperative,  the  bad  men  were 
dauntless ;  the  vast  crowd  between  the  two,  which 
forms  the  bulk  of  humanity,  felt  no  stimulus  to- 
ward religion,  and  drowsed  in  comfortable  con- 
tent." 

Lecky  says :  **  A  great  skeptic  described  the 
nation  as  '  settled  into  the  most  cool  indifference 
with  regard  to  religious  matters  that  is  to  be  found 
in  any  nation  in  the  world.'  " 


Spiritual  Vitality.  389 

Leland,*  an  eminent  Dissenter,  said  :  "  It  cannot 
escape  the  notice  of  the  most  superficial  observer 
that  an  habitual  neglect  of  public  worship  is  be- 
coming general  among  us,  beyond  the  example  of 
former  times."  "  People  of  fashion,"  said  Arch- 
bishop Seeker,!  "especially  of  that  sex  which 
ascribes  to  itself  the  most  knowledge,  have  merely 
thrown  off  all  observance  of  the  Lord's  day,  .  .  . 
and  if,  to  avoid  scandal,  they  sometimes  vouch- 
safe their  attendance  on  divine  worship  in  the 
country,  'they  seldom  or  never  do  it  in  town." 
Cabinet  councils  and  cabinet  dinners  were  con- 
stantly held  on  that  day,:}:  Sunday  card-parties, 
during  the  greater  part  of  the  eighteenth  cent- 
ury, were  fashionable  entertainments  in  the  best 
circles.  § 

Bishop  Butler  said  :  "  The  general  decay  of  re- 
ligion in  this  nation,  which  is  now  observed  by 
every  one,  has  been  for  some  time  the  complaint 
of  all  serious  persons."  "  The  influence  of  it  is 
more  and  more  wearing  out  of  the  minds  of  men, 
even  of  those  who  do  not  pretend  to  enter  into  specu- 
lations upon  the  subject ;  but  the  number  of  those 
who  do,  and  who  profess  themselves  unbelievers, 
increases,  and  with  their  numbers  their  zeal." 

*  Leland's  "View  of  the  Deistical  Writers,"  ii,  442, 
f-  Seeker's  Sermons,  works  i,  114,  115. 
^  Stanhope's  "  History  of  England,"  vii,  p.  320. 
§  '•  Rambler,"  30,  etc. 


390       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Addison  said :  "  There  is  less  appearance  of  re- 
ligion in  England  than  in  any  neighboring  state  or 
kingdom." 

Crossing  the  Atlantic,  we  find  the  Churches  of 
the  American  Colonies  not  much  better.  The  Vir 
ginia  Colony  was  never  noted  for  either  its  morality 
or  piety,  and  the  tendency  was  downward  rathei 
than  upward.  In  Maryland,  under  the  numerous 
civil  and  ecclesiastical  distractions  which  prevailed 
through  the  seventeenth  century,  things  were 
even  worse.  The  Lord's  day  was  generally  pro- 
faned, religion  despised,  and  the  clergy  were  scan- 
dalous in  behavior.  In  the  New  York  Colony  the 
Dutch  Church,  dependent  upon  the  mother  Church 
in  Amsterdam,  performed  its  work  under  serious 
embarrassments ;  and  the  Episcopal  Church,  sus- 
tained by  the  civil  power,  partook  of  the  prevailing 
laxity  in  English  manners  at  home. 

The  Presbyterians,  commencing  under  the  inde- 
fatigable labors  of  the  spiritual  and  apostolical 
Francis  Makemie,  beginning  in  1684,  spread  through 
New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware, 
and  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Maryland.  But  the  pio- 
neer passed  away,  (1708,)  and  a  change  came  over 
the  Churches.  Being  in  close  affiliation  with  the 
Presbyterian  Churches  of  Scotland  and  Ireland, 
and  receiving  their  ministers  from  those  countries, 
they  partook  of  the  same  spirit  that  was  working 
such  deteriorating  results   in   the   Churches  of  the 


Spiritual  Vitality.  391 

British  Isles.  The  primitive  zeal  of  Makemie  and 
his  compeers  declined,  "  revivals  of  religion  were 
nowhere  heard  of,  and  an  orthodox  creed  and  a 
decent  external  conduct  were  the  only  points  on 
which  inquiry  was  made  when  persons  were  admit- 
ted U.  the  communion." 

And  no  more  was  required  of  the  ministers,  ex- 
cept intellectual  and  scholastic  qualifications.  Vi- 
tal piety  almost  deserted  the  Church.  The  sub- 
stance of  preaching  was  a  "  dead  orthodoxy," 
which  laid  no  emphasis  on  human  sinfulness  or 
regeneration.  "  Some  of  the  preachers,"  says  Dr. 
Gillett,*  "  whom  Tennent  rebuked,  were  unques- 
tionably '  Pharisee  preachers.'  Among  them,  too, 
were  bitter  opponents  of  the  '  revival '  which  subse- 
quently occurred,  '  if  not  of  evangelical  religion.*  " 
A  change  of  heart  not  being  required  of  members 
or  preachers,  unconverted  men  became  pastors. 
Some  of  them,  subsequently  awakened  under 
Whitefield's  preaching,  mourned  over  themselves 
as  "soul-deceivers  and  soul-murderers." 

Puritan  New  England  was  not  exempt  from  the 
general  decline.  The  early  Churches  were  noted 
for  piety,  and  during  the  first  thirty  years  after  the 
landing  of  the  Pilgrims  deep  spirituality  prevailed — 
almost  continual  showers  of  refreshing.  Subse- 
quently spirituality  declined,  and  at  the  close  of 
the  century  there  were  many  lamentations  over 
♦  "  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church." 


392       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

the  low  state  of  religion.  The  eighteenth  century 
opened  with  no  improvement.  In  1702  Increase 
Mather  said  :  "  Look  into  our  pulpits  and  see  if 
there  is  such  a  glory  as  there  once  was.  Look  into 
the  civil  state.  Does  Christ  reign  there  as  he  once 
did  ?  How  many  churches,  how  many  towns,  there 
are  in  New  England  over  which  we  may  sigh  and 
say  the  glory  is  gone."  Dr.  Trumbull  described 
the  condition  of  Connecticut  in  similar  terms.  In 
1707  the  downward  tendency,  attributable,  in  part, 
to  the  adoption  of  the  Half-way  Covenant  forty- 
five  years  before,  was  accelerated  by  the  action  of 
Rev.  Solomon  Stoddard,  of  Northampton,  a  man 
of  larger  public  influence  than  any  other  in  west- 
ern New  England,  whose  subversive  practice  of 
admitting  unconverted  persons  to  the  Lord's  sup- 
per, at  first  feebly  resisted,  became  current  in  many 
Churches.  The  Half-way  Covenant  had  admitted 
the  impenitent,  if  baptized  in  infancy,  to  Church 
fellowship,  so  far  as  to  allow  them  to  become 
voters,  but  not  to  partake  of  the  Lord's  supper. 
It  was  the  wooden  horse  within  the  walls  of  Troy. 
Henceforth  they  were  admitted  to  full  fellowship  in 
the  Church  if  correct  in  faith  and  not  scandalous 
in  life.  From  this  time  justification,  regeneration, 
and  .the  cognate  doctrines  were  discarded,  or 
preached  in  new  and  accommodated  forms.  Piety 
being  no  longer  a  condition  of  membership,  nor  of 
ministerial  ordination,  zeal  was  at  a  discount,  and 


Spiritual  Vitality.  393 

refined  moralizing  and  speculation  constituted  the 
staple  matter  of  pulpit  discourses. 

Spasmodic  efforts,  like  the  convulsive  twitchings 
of  dying  muscles,  were  occasionally  put  forth  to 
arrest  the  decline.  In  1725  Cotton  Mather,  in  be- 
half of  the  convention  of  ministers,  petitioned  the 
Legislature  that,  "  in  view  of  the  great  and  visible 
decline  of  piety,"  a  Synod  might  be  called  to 
remedy  the  unhappy  condition,  but  without  avail. 
Two  fatal  epidemics,  carrying  off  from  one  tenth  to 
one  seventh  of  the  people  in  some  localities,  pro- 
duced temporary  alarm,  but  did  not  essentially 
change  the  religious  condition. 

The  evil  tendencies  working  down  through  En- 
glish society  from  the  coronation  of  Charles  II.,  un- 
binding the  safeguards  of  virtue  and  faith,  and  pro- 
moting skepticism,  frivolity,  and  profligacy,  were 
only  too  contagious  among  the  children  of  the  Pil- 
grims, the  Covenanters,  and  the  Cavaliers.  The  re- 
ligious enthusiasm  of  the  fathers  had  passed  away, 
and  devotion,  self-sacrifice,  and  sanctity  of  life  had 
subsided  into  staleness  of  thought  and  stagnancy 
of  feeling  in  all  the  colonies.  The  Churches  were 
valleys  of  dry  bones. 

In  such  a  condition  of  the  Churches  in  Great  Brit- 
ain and  the  American  Colonies  the  memorable  re- 
ligious movements  known  as  the  Wesleyan  Refor- 
mation in  England,  and  "the  Great  Awakening" 
in    this  country,    commenced.     Simultaneous    and 


394       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

unique,  but  unconnected,  these  remarkable  quick- 
enings  bore  the  divine  impress. 

The  Wesleyan  movement,  beginning  in  the  indi- 
vidual longings  of  the  Wesleys  and  Whitefield  after 
spiritual  life  and  purity,  became  at  once  a  revival 
and  a  reformation.  It  emphasized  spiritual  life, 
spiritual  power,  holiness  of  heart  and  life,  and  the 
priesthood  of  believers.  The  latter,  one  of  the 
leading  theses  of  the  Reformation,  but  imperfectly 
carried  out  in  the  actual  life  of  the  Reformation 
Churches,  except  the  Moravians,  developed  into  a 
distinguishing  feature  of  the  Wesleyan  movement. 
All  converts,  male  and  female,  were  joyful  witnesses 
for  Christ,  and  went  forth  to  active  labor  for  their 
new  Master.  Wesleyanism  was  characterized  by 
intense  vitality.  Social  services,  the  favorite  privi- 
leges of  the  people,  were  almost  as  prominent  as  the 
preaching  of  the  Word,  and  large  numbers  of  lay 
preachers  and  exhorters  went  forth  into  neglected 
by-ways. 

This  movement  gave  a  broad  impulse  to  English 
Christianity.  Wesley,  forming  societies,  and  White- 
field  forming  none — the  former  Arminian  and  the 
latter  Calvinistic,  but  one  in  impulse  and  purpose — 
awakened  the  spiritual  life  of  the  national  Church 
and  also  of  the  dissenting  bodies,  English  Protest- 
antism became  a  live,  aggressive,  regenerating  force. 
Under  the  influence  of  Whitefield  and  the  Countess 
of  Huntingdon,  Calvinistic  Nonconformity  rose,  as 


Spiritual  Vitality.  395 

from  the  dead,  with  an  energy  increasing  e\'er  since  ; 
while,  in  co-operation  with  Wesley,  a  powerful 
evangehcal  party  arose  in  the  Establishment,  and 
new  measures  of  gospel  propagandism  were  inau- 
gurated, which  have  kept  British  Christianity  alive 
and  extended  its  activities  into  far-off  lands  "  sit- 
ting in  darkness  and  the  shadow  of  death."  Chiefly 
out  of  this  spiritual  quickening  came  forth  those 
great  Christian  enterprises  through  which  British 
piety  has  spread  its  influence  around  the  globe. 
"  The  British  Bible  Society,  most  of  the  British 
Missionary  Societies,  Tract  Societies,  the  Sunday- 
schools,  religious  periodicals,  negro  emancipation, 
etc.,  all  arose,  directly  or  indirectly,  from  this  im- 
pulse." * 

Isaac  Taylor  said  the  Established  Church  owes 
to  the  Wesleyan  movement,  "  in  great  part,  the 
modern  revival  of  its  energies  ;  "  and,  "  by  the  new 
life  it  has  diffused  on  all  sides,  it  has  preserved  from 
extinction  and  has  reanimated  the  languishing  Non- 
conformity of  the  last  century,  which,  just  at  the 
time  of  the  Methodist  revival,  was  rapidly  in  course 
to  be  found  nowhere  but  in  books."  Also  Mr. 
Lackey  says  of  the  Wesleyan  movement  that  "  it 
incalculably  increased  the  efficiency  of  almost  every 
religious  body  ;  "  f  that  "  it  has  been  more  or  less 
felt   in   every  Protestant  community  speaking  the 

*  Mr.   Lecky's   "  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,"  vol.  ii, 
p.  674.  f  Ibid.,  p.  682. 


39^      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

English  tongue  ;  "  *  and  that  Wesley  "  has  had  a 
wider  constructive  influence  in  the  sphere  of  practi- 
cal religion  than  any  other  man  who  has  appeared 
since  the  sixteenth  century."  f  Dean  Stanley  has 
uttered  similar  tributes  to  Wesley. 

At  the  time  when  the  Wesleys  and  Whitefield 
were  pressing  into  higher  spiritual  life  in  England, 
across  the  Atlantic,  in  the  Massachusetts  Colony,  in 
the  retired  town  of  Northampton,  the  ablest  young 
minister  of  the  age,  a  descendant  of  a  London  cler- 
gyman in  the  days  of  Elizabeth,  was  striking  mass- 
ive blows  against  the  foundations  of  false  hope  on 
which,  in  stupid  lethargy,  the  Churches  were  repos- 
ing. Jonathan  Edwards,  born  in  the  same  year 
with  John  Wesley,  was  a  fellow-champion  with  him 
of  spiritual  religion,  evangelical  theology,  and  ad- 
vanced spiritual  movements.  He  proclaimed  with 
powerful  cogency  man's  lost  condition,  Christ's 
death  the  only  ground  of  justification,  and  the  ne- 
cessity of  regenerating  grace.  His  bugle-call  awak- 
ened the  slumbering  Churches,  and  aroused  them 
to  higher  spirituality.  In  Central  and  Western 
Massachusetts  and  in  Connecticut  a  large  number 
of  towns  were  quickened,  and  the  dormant  Churches 
of  New  Jersey  also  felt  the  pulsations  of  the  new 
life.  The  Edwardean  revival  attracted  much  atten- 
tion; but  the  visit  and  labors  of  Whitefield  extended 

•  Mr.  Lecky's  "  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,"  vol.  ii, 
p.  690.  f  Ibid.,  p.  687. 


Spiritual  Vitality.  397 

the  circle  of  its  influence,  and  made  it  the  great  re- 
h'gious  event  of  the  period. 

In  the  Middle  States  the  way  had  been  providen- 
tially preparing.  In  1718  Rev.  Wiljiam  Tennent,  a 
clergyman  of  rare  scholarship  and  deep  piety,  emi- 
grated from  Ireland,  and  about  1729  established 
at  Neshaming,  not  far  from  Philadelphia,  the  famous 
"  Log  College  "  as  a  training  school  for  ministers — 
the  first  Presbyterian  school  in  America.  Here,  at 
a  time  when  a  cold  and  formal  religion  called  only 
for  intellectually  drilled  ministers,  candidates  for  the 
sacred  office  received  both  intellectual  and  spiritual 
culture,  and  a  body  of  young  preachers  was  raised 
up  who  warmly  welcomed  the  coming  of  Whitefield. 
Under  his  flaming  ministrations  the  influence  of 
Edwards'  revival  was  suplemented  and  extended, 
saving  the  languishing  Churches  of  the  Middle 
States  from  extinction.  The  Tennents,  father  and 
three  sons — John,  Gilbert,  and  William,  2d — Finlay, 
Robinson,  and  Davenport,  all  educated  at  the  "  Log 
College,"  were  leaders  in  this  movement. 

The  Presbyterian  Churches  assumed  an  attitude 
of  aggressiveness  and  power  ;  faithful  men  were  en- 
thused  and  enlisted  in  active  labor ;  Nassau  Hall 
received  its  birth  and  baptism  ;  and  Whitefield's 
preaching  and  the  reading  of  his  published  sermons 
introduced  Presbyterianism  into  Virginia.  Much 
of  "  the  stock  from  which  the  Baptists  in  Virginia, 
and  those  farther  south  and  south-west,  sprung  was 


398       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

also  Whitefieldian."  In  New  England,  Wheelock, 
the  founder  of  Dartmouth  College,  and  the  in- 
structor of  many  Indian  youth  who  became  mission- 
aries  to  their  red  brethren,  lighted  his  torch  in  this 
flame.  Brainerd  was  fired  from  the  same  altar,  and, 
under  the  last  sermon  of  Whitefield,  Benjamin  Ran- 
dall, the  founder  of  the  Free-Will  Baptists,  was 
awakened. 

The  result  of  the  revivals,  not  to  speak  of  other 
gains,  was  the  addition  of  from  20,000  to  30,000 
members  to  the  Churches.  But  more  serious  errors 
and  irregularities  accompanied  these  movements 
than  have  characterized  the  revivals  of  later  times, 
leaving  ample  occasion  for  criticism,  even  by  the 
friends,  in  cooler  moments  of  review.  The  Churches 
of  the  Middle  and  New  England  States  were  divided. 
A  stout  resistance  to  the  extreme  measures  of  the 
revivalists,  and  a  growing  spirit  of  dissent — the  in- 
cipient stages  of  the  later  Arian  and  Socinian  devel- 
opment— sharply  arrayed  parties  against  each  other. 
The  revival,  therefore,  with  all  its  great  and  never- 
to-be-depreciated  advantages,  was  not  an  unmixed 
blessing,  but  left  behind  a  residuum  of  evil,  to  har- 
rass  the  Churches^  and  bring  again  coldness  and 
death, 

There  speedily  followed  a  long  period  of  spiritual 
decline,  extending  through  a  half  century,  occa- 
sioned by  new  and  continually  multiplying  troubles: 
the  French  and  Indian  wars,  the  political  agitations 


Spiritual  Vitality.  399 

ushering  in  the  Revolution,  the  sanguinary  scenes 
and  deep  trials  of  that  severe  contest,  the  pecuniary 
embarrassments  following  it,  the  agitations  connect- 
ed with  the  organization  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment, the  local  rebellions  in  several  of  the  States, 
the  infusion  of  English  Deism  through  the  British 
officers  aiding  in  the  French  and  Indian  wars,  and 
the  spread  of  French  infidelity,  during  and  after  the 
struggle  for  independence. 

The  disbanded  armies  poisoned  every  community 
with  skepticism  and  immorality.  On  the  borders, 
lawless  Indians  and  renegade  white  men  kept  the 
settlers  in  perpetual  alarm.  In  large  sections  there 
was  no  other  vestige  of  the  Christian  Sabbath  than 
a  faint  observance  of  the  day  as  a  time  of  rest  for 
the  aged  and  a  play-day  for  the  young.  The  in- 
trigues of  infidel  politicians  thickened  around  the 
best  statesmen ;  and,  without  Divine  interposition 
and  the  steady  moral  courage  of  Washington,  the 
newly  emancipated  people  would  have  relapsed  into 
anarchy. 

The  Half-way  Covenant  was  a  prolific  source  of 
evil  to  the  Congregational  Churches  of  New  En- 
gland. "  In  the  light  of  it,"  says  Rev.  Dr.  Tarbox,* 
"we  can  easily  understand  why  the  Churches  of 
Massachusetts  were  in  a  very  unhealthy  condition 

*  Historical  Survey  of  the  Congregational  Churches  of  Massa- 
chusetts, 1776-1876.  "Minutes  of  the  General  Association  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, 1877,"  P-  42. 


400      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

one  hundred  years  ago.  They  had  not,  it  is  true 
lost  all  their  power  as  Churches  of  Christ,  but  they 
were  greatly  shorn  of  their  strength.  From  1745 
on  to  the  close  of  the  century  there  was  a  woeful  ab- 
sence of  those  special  breathings  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
which  we  call  revivals  of  religion.  The  Churches 
were  built  up  as  to  numbers,  but  largely  with  earth 
ly  materials,  and  the  standard  of  Christian  conduct 
came  to  be  very  low. 

"  We  talk  of  the  good  old  times,  but  all  through 
the  last  century  there  were  strifes  and  contentions 
in  many  of  these  Churches,  such  as  were  far  below 
the  Christian  standards  of  the  present  day.  We 
refer  to  these  things  not  to  dishonor  our  fathers, 
but  rather  to  honor  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  in 
its  power  to  overcome  evil,  and  make  the  world 
better  from  generation  to  generation. 

"  The  drinking  habits  of  all  classes,  ministers  in- 
cluded, hung  like  a  dead  weight  upon  the  Churches. 
Ordinations  were  scenes  of  festivity,  copious  drink- 
ing having  a  large  share  in  this  festivity,  and  an 
ordination  ball  often  ended  the  occasion.  Not  very 
far  from  the  period  of  the  Revolution  several  coun- 
cils were  held  in  one  of  the  towns  of  Massachusetts, 
where  the  people  were  trying  to  be  rid  of  a  minister, 
who  was  often  the  worse  for  liquor,  even  in  the 
pulpit,  and  once,  at  least,  at  the  communion  table; 
but  some  of  the  neighboring  ministers  stood  by  him, 
and  the  people  had  to  endure  him  till  his  death." 


Spiritual  Vitality.  401 

A  large  amount  of  the  social  religious  activity  we 
are  now  familiar  with,  presenting  to  the  public  the 
major  part  of  the  Church  phenomena  of  our  times, 
was  unknown  almost  all  through  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  centuries,  except  as  exhibited 
among  the  Quakers,  and  also  by  the  Methodists, 
after  the  rise  of  that  body.  In  an  address  at  An- 
dover  Theological  Seminary,  published  in  the  "Con- 
gregationalist,"  Professor  Phelps  said: 

In  the  olden  time,  the  two  sermons  on  the  Lord's  day  with 
the  accompanying  exercises,  constituted  the  whole  of  the  serv- 
ices of  public  worship.  Sabbath-schools  were  not,  weekly 
lectures  were  not  frequent,  except  the  single  lecture  preparatory 
to  the  administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  "  The  only  notable 
exception  to  this  statement  I  am  able  to  discover,  is  the  institu- 
tion of  the  "Thursday  lecture"  in  the  old  First  Church  of  Boston. 

In  revival  seasons  like  that  of  1734-36,  under  Ed- 
wards, in  Northampton,  Mass.,  there  was  a  little 
variation,  when  private  praying-circles  or  family 
meetings  were  held  in  each  other's  houses,  weekly  or 
monthly,  "  to  seek  the  Lord."  In  the  "  Great 
Awakening"  under  Whitefield,  meetings  for  prayer 
were  held  on  secular  days;  and  a  woman's  prayer- 
meeting,  under  Miss  Abigal  Waters,  a  convert  under 
Whitefield,  was  held  in  connection  with  the  Old 
South  Church,  Boston.- 

But  such  meetings  were  not  numerous  and  did 
not  long  continue.  Ministers  and  conservative 
Church  members  opposed  them.  A  letter  is  said  to 
be  in  existence  from  Jonathan   Edwards,  reproving 


402      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

a  young  man  for  taking  part  in  a  meeting  held  in 
his  father's  house,  and  appealing  to  him,  as  a  wise, 
intelligent  young  person,  to  forecast  what  such  a 
practice  might  lead  to.  Ministers  refused  to  give 
notice  of  such  meetings,  unless  they  could  be  pres- 
ent or  some  officer  of  the  Church  could  preside. 
In  the  beginning  of  this  century,  when  nine  spiritual 
members  of  the  Old  South  Church,  Boston,  met  for 
social  worship,  they  encountered  scorn  and  opposi- 
tion from  many  of  the  other  members.  As  late  as 
1813,  it  is  said  that  only  two  laymen  in  the  Church 
in  New  Britain,  Conn.,  had  ever  been  heard  to 
pray  in  public. 

Rev.  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon  testified  that  the  "  mod- 
ern style  of  prayer-meeting  is,  I  think,  entirely  novel 
in  our  Churches."  In  addresses  delivered  on  the  one 
hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  First  Church 
in  Pomfret,  Conn.,  we  read  : 

We  cannot  say  how  much  visiting  from  house  to  house  and 
catechetical  instruction  there  was  during  the  first  two  pastor- 
ates, a  period  of  ninety  years ;  but  preaching  and  pubHc  as- 
semblies were  limited  to  two  services  on  the  Sabbath,  (and  in 
cold  weather  frequently  to  one,)  the  preparatory  lecture,  and  an 
occasional  lecture  in  the  house  of  some  aged  person  or  invalid. 
None  but  the  pastor  took  part  in  acts  of  social  worship.  Lay- 
men never  prayed  or  spoke  on  religious  themes  in  public.  No 
place  or  time  was  given  them.  It  was  looked  upon  by  the  age 
as  disorderly.  Any  brother  inclined  to  such  service  was  looked 
upon  as  a  "  new  light  "  and  a  "  separatist."  But  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  third  pastorate,  1802,  prayer  and  conference  meetings 
were  introduced,  though  many  trembled  for  the  result. 


Spiritual  Vitality.  403 

Such  was  the  condition  of  the  Churches  in  the 
older  communities.  The  younger  settlements  were 
even  worse.  Rev.  David  Rice,  who  went  to  Ken- 
tucky in  1783,  said,*  "  I  scarcely  found  one  man, 
and  but  few  women,  who  supported  a  creditable 
profession  of  religion.  Some  were  grossly  ignorant 
of  the  first  principles  of  religion  ;  some  were  given 
to  quarreling  and  fighting;  some,  to  intemperance; 
and  perhaps  most  of  them  were  totally  ignorant  of 
the  forms  of  religion  in  their  own  houses."  And 
yet  "  many  of  them  procured  certificates  of  having 
been  in  full  communion  and  good  standing  in  the 
Churches  from  which  they  had  emigrated." 

The  religious  outlook  was  dismal  indeed.  Spirit- 
uality was  at  a  low  ebb.  The  revival  idea  nearly 
died  out  of  the  actual  life  of  the  Churches.  Many 
of  them,  decimated  by  the  war,  and  sunken  in 
apathy,  dragged  a  miserable  existence.  From  1745 
to  I797t  only  few  and  comparatively  small  revivals 
of  religion  occurred:  in  1764  and  1770,  under  the 

*  "  Memoirs  of  Rev.  David  Rice,  of  Kentucky." 
f  "Long  before  the  death  of  Whitefield,  in  1770,  extensive  reviv- 
als  in  America  had  ceased.  And,  except  one  in  Stockbridge,  and 
some  other  parts  of  Berkshire  County,  Massachusetts,  about  the  year 
1772;  and  one  in  the  north  quarter  of  Lyme,  Connecticut,  about 
the  yeai  1780  ;  and  in  several  towns  in  Litchfield  County,  Con- 
necticut, about  the  year  1783,  I  know  of  none  which  occurred  after- 
ward, till  the  timeof  which  I  am  to  speak,  (1797-1803.)" — Rev.  E.  D. 
Griffin,  D.D.,  Letter  on  Revivals  to  Rev.  William  B.  Sprague,  D.D. 
(See  Sprague's  "  Lectures  on  Revivals."     Albany,  1832.     Appendix. 

p.  I5I-) 

27 


404      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

labors  of  Dr.  Laddie,  in  New  York  city;  in  1767,  a 
small  revival,  with  only  ten  or  twelve  converts,  in 
Norfolk,  Connecticut;  in  1778,  at  Vance's  Fort, 
Pennsylvania;  in  1781-1787,  in  the  region  of  Cross 
Creek,  Upper  Buffalo,  Lebanon,  and  Cross  Roads, 
Pennsylvania;  in  1772  and  1784,  at  Elizabeth,  and 
in  1790,  at  Hanover,  New  Jersey;  in  1764,  1785, 
and  T791,  under  Dr.  Buel's  labors,  at  Easthampton, 
Long  Island;  in  1788-89,  in  the  upper  regions  of 
Georgia;  in  1795,  under  the  labors  of  Dr.  Griffin, 
at  New  Hartford,  Connecticut,  and  again  in  1799; 
in  1781  and  1788,  in  Dartmouth  College,  but  not 
again  for  seventeen  years;  in  Yale  College,  in  1783, 
but  not  again  until  after  1800,  the  undergraduate 
membership  of  the  College  Church  dwindling  to 
four  or  five;  and  in  1757,  1762,  and  1773,  in  Prince- 
ton College,  and  not  again  until  1813,  during  which 
time,  according  to  Dr.  Ashbel  Green,  there  were 
only  two  or  three  students  who  professed  religion, 
and  only  four  or  five  who  scrupled  to  use  profane 
language.  These  were  almost  all  the  revivals  for 
fifty  years.  William  and  Mary's  College  was  "  a 
hot-bed  of  infidelity,"  and  Harvard  College  of  Arian 
and  Socinian  sentiments. 

Writing  of  this  period,  one  pastor  said,  "  Prior  to 
this  year  (1799)  there  never  was  any  extensive  re- 
vival of  religion  in  this  town;"  another  mentioned 
a  small  revival  in  1767,  and  another  in  1783,  and 
nothing  more  until  1799;   another  said,  "I  cannot 


Spiritual  Vitality.  405 

learn  from  any  of  the  first  settlers  that  there  had 
been  any  remarkable  revivals  in  this  town,  until 
June,  1799;"  and  Rev.  Ebenezer  Porter,  of  Wash- 
ington, Connecticut,  in  1803,  wrote,  "Though  this 
Church  has  enjoyed  a  preached  Gospel  with  very 
little  interruption  since  its  formation,  a  period  of 
sixty-four  years,  nothing  that  could  be  properly 
termed  a  revival  of  religion  had  ever  taken  place 
until  the  present."  In  describing  the  condition  of 
things  in  Lenox,  Massachusetts,  a  pastor  wrote: 
"  The  situation  of  this  Church  calls  for  the  earnest 
prayers  of  all  who  have  any  heart  to  pray.  The 
number  of  its  members  is  not  much  greater  than  it 
has  been  at  any  time  for  twenty-five  years,  and  al- 
most all  of  them  are  burdened  under  the  infirmities 
of  years.  Not  a  single  young  person  has  been  re- 
ceived into  it  for  sixteen  years."  And  another,  in 
Canton,  Connecticut,  said,  "  Religion  has  gradually 
declined  among  us,  the  doctrines  of  Christ  grow 
more  and  more  unpopular,  family  prayer  and  all  the 
duties  of  the  Gospel  are  less  regarded,  ungodliness 
prevails,  and  modern  infidelity  has  made  alarming 
progress  among  us.  It  seems  as  though  the  Sab- 
bath would  be  lost,  and  every  appearance  of  religion 
vanish  yea,  that  our  Zion  must  die  without  any 
helper,  and  that  infidels  will  laugh  at  her  dying 
groans."  We  might  multiply  these  testimonies,  for 
these  were  not  the  exceptional  utterances  of  men 
of  melancholy  temperament,  but  the  frequent  and 


4o6       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

almost  universal  expression  of  the  best  minds  of  that 
day. 

The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
embracing  men  of  high  character,  broad  culture, 
and  superior  intelligence,  in  its  Pastoral  Letter,  in 
1798,  said  :  "  A  dissolution  of  religious  society  seems 
to  be  threatened  by  the  supineness  and  inattention 
of  many  ministers  and  professors  of  Christianity." 
"  The  statements  of  the  Assembly,"  says  Rev.  Dr. 
Gillett,  "  grave  and  startling  as  they  were,  were  by 
no  means  exaggerated.  The  prospect  for  religious 
progress  or  improvement  was  almost  cheerless.  By 
public  men  in  high  station  infidelity  was  boldly 
avowed.  In  some  places  society,  taking  its  tone 
from  them,  seemed  hopelessly  surrendered  to  the 
impious  and  the  blasphemer." 

The  last  two  decades  of  the  eighteenth  century 
were  the  darkest  period,  spiritually  and  morally,  in 
the  history  of  American  Christianity — so  dark  and 
ominous  of  evil  that  it  was  a  fruitful  topic  of  dis- 
course, of  correspondence,  of  profound  inquiry  and 
consultation  ;  and  numerous  fasts  were  appointed 
by  the  ecclesiastical  bodies — annual  fasts,  quarterly 
fasts,  monthly  fasts,  and  weekly  fasts — and,  in  some 
localities  widely  separated,  a  half  hour  at  sundown 
on  Saturday  night,  and  a  half  hour  at  sunrise  on 
Sunday  morning,  were  devoted  to  special  prayer 
for  the  divine  blessing  on  the  land. 


CHAPTER  II. 
THE    NE\S^   RPIRITUAL   ERA. 

New  Life.  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 

The  New  Life  Organizing.  eiations. 

The  New  Life  Aggressive.  Foreign  Missions. 

New  Lay- Activities.  Pecuniary  Benevolence. 

City  Missions.  Imperfections. 

Home  Missions.  Type  of  Religious  Character 

The  Outlook. 


Spiritual  Vitality.  409 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  NEW  SPIRITUAL  ERA. 

IN  the  midst  of  the  low  spiritual  condition  de- 
scribed at  the  close  of  the  preceding  chapter  the 
great  religious  awakening,  known  as  "  the  revival 
of  1800,"  performed  its  beneficent  work.  From 
1795  to  1797  a  few  isolated  revivals  occurred  in 
western  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  but  in  the 
autumn  of  1799  the  Holy  Spirit  was  more  power- 
fully poured  out  in  Eastern  Tennessee  and  Ken- 
tucky. The  flame  of  revival  rapidly  spread,  cross- 
ing the  Blue  Ridge  into  Virginia  and  North  Caro- 
lina, extending  southward  and  northward  through- 
out almost  the  entire  land.  It  continued,  with  va- 
rying force,  from  1799  to  1803,  but  most  deeply 
marked  the  years  1800  and  1801,  and  inaugurated  a 
new  era  of  deeper  spirituality  in  the  American 
Churches. 

Rev.  Dr.  Tyler  said:*  "Within  the  period  of 
five  or  six  years,  commencing  with  1797,  it  has 
been  stated  that  not  less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty 
Churches  in  New  England  were  visited  with  '  times 
of  refreshing  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord.'  " 

*  "  New  England  Revivals."    By  Rev.  Bennett  Tyler,  D.D. 


4IO      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Rev.  Ebenezcr  Porter,  D.D.,  said  :  "  The  day 
dawned  which  was  to  succeed  a  night  of  more  than 
sixty  years.  As  in  the  valley  of  Ezekiel's  vision, 
there  was  a  great  shaking.  Dry  bones,  animated 
by  the  breath  of  the  Almighty,  stood  up  new-born 
believers.  The  children  of  Zion  beheld  with  over- 
flowing souls,  and  with  thankful  hearts  acknowl- 
edged, '  This  is  the  finger  of  God.'  The  work  was 
stamped  conspicuously  with  the  impress  of  its  di- 
vine Author,  and  its  joyful  effects  evinced  no  other 
than  the  agency  of  Omnipotence."  Rev.  E.  D. 
Griffin,  D.D.,  said  :  "  I  could  stand  in  my  door,  at 
New  Hartford,  Litchfield  Co.,  Conn.,  and  number 
fifty  or  sixty  contiguous-  congregations  laid  down 
in  one  field  of  divine  wonders,  and  as  many  more 
in  various  parts  of  New  England." 

Since  that  time  American  revivals  have  been  fre- 
quent and  extensive,  attracting  the  attention  of 
European  divines  as  remarkable  phases  in  the  history 
of  the  Christian  Church.  Rev.  Dr.  Gardner  Spring 
said  :  "  From  the  year  1800  down  to  the  year  1825 
there  was  an  uninterrupted  series  of  these  celestial 
visitations  spreading  over  different  parts  of  the 
land.  During  the  whole  of  those  twenty-five  years 
there  was  scarcely  a  time  in  which  we  could  not 
point  to  some  village,  some  city,  some  seminary, 
and  say,  '  Behold  what  God  hath  wrought.'  "  Rev. 
Dr.  Heman  Humphrey  said:  *'  It  was  the  opening 
of  a  new  revival  epoch,  which  has  lasted  now  more 


Spiritual  Vitality.  411 

than  half  a  century,  with  but  short  and  partial  in- 
terruptions. .  .  .  Taken  altogether,  the  revival  pe- 
riod, at  the  close  of  the  last  century  and  the  be- 
ginning of  the  present,  furnishes  ample  materials 
for  a  long  and  glorious  chapter  in  the  history  of 
redemption." 

Between  1825  and  1845  these  spiritual  visitations 
were  very  powerful  ;  from  1848  to  1857  was  a  period 
of  reaction  and  spiritual  decline,  following  the  wide- 
ly extended,  but  abnormal,  Millerite  excitement ; 
but  since  the  great  revival  of  1857  and  1858,  the  re- 
vival seasons,  except  during  the  civil  war,  have  been 
more  frequent  and  continuous,  and  the  declensions 
less  disastrous.  Numerous  local  Churches  have 
enjoyed  a  well-nigh  uninterrupted  revival  condition 
for  many  years,  few  weeks  passing  without  conver- 
sions. In  later  years,  too,  there  has  been  less  ex- 
citement, and  less  of  the  peculiar  physical  phenom- 
ena which  characterized  the  early  revivals  in  Scot- 
land among  the  Presbyterians,  in  England  under 
the  Wesleys,  in  America  under  Whitefield  and  Ed- 
wards, and  in  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  at  the  be- 
ginning of  this  century.  A  more  deliberate  and  in- 
telligent action  of  the  religious  sensibilities  is  every- 
where apparent.  And  the  fruits  of  this  new  life  have 
been  an  increase  of  nearly  fifteen  millions  of  com- 
municants in  the  Evangelical  Churches  from  1800  to 
1.894 — a  gain  without  a  parallel  in  religious  history. 

As  one  of  the  effects,  though,  in  an  important 


412       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

sense,  a  cause,  of  these  great  revival  movements, 
and  an  unmistakable  evidence  of  the  deepening 
spiritual  vitality  of  the  American  Churches,  we 
have  the  every- where  patent  fact  of  a  more  general 
and  intelligent  acknowledgment  of  the  Holy  Spirit's 
influences  as  the  efficient  agent  in  all  spiritual 
work.  During  the  last  one  hundred  and  fifty  years 
this  doctrine  has  come  to  a  fuller  recognition  than 
ever  before  for  eighteen  centuries,  and  Christian 
men  are  accustomed  to  labor  in  humble  reliance 
upon  this  divine  agent  for  spiritual  success.  The 
supernatural  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  awak- 
ening sinners,  in  begetting  and  sustaining  Chris- 
tian experience — the  vital  and  vitalizing  power  in 
true  piety — has  come  into  very  distinctive  promi- 
nence in  the  religious  literature  also  of  this  period. 
As  a  consequence,  there  has  been  a  deeper  awaken- 
ing of  the  religious  consciousness,  a  wider  explora- 
tion of  the  field  of  religious  experience,  a  develop- 
ment of  a  more  joyful  and  victorious  type  of  piety, 
and  a  spirit  of  heroic  effort  in  keeping  with  our  best 
ideals  of  pure  Christianity. 

New  wine  must  have  new  bottles ;  new  life  devel- 
ops new  organizations.  The  old  methods  of  relig- 
ious work  no  longer  sufficed.  The  vigorous  con- 
verts of  the  new  era  became  conspicuous  as  organ- 
izers and  standard-bearers  of  great  advance  move- 
ments. Under  the  hay-stacks  on  the  banks  of  the 
Hoosac,  Mills,   Hall,  and  Richards,  three  devoted 


Spiritual  Vitality.  413 

young  students  of  Williams'  College,  all  fruits  of 
the  revival  of  1800,  "  prayed  into  existence  the  em- 
bryo of  foreign  missions,"  and  soon  after,  at  Ando- 
ver,  enkindled  the  hearts  of  Newell,  Nott,  and 
Judson  with  the  same  flame.  Dr.  Justin  Edwards, 
one  of  the  wisest  and  most  influential  organizers 
of  moral  and  religious  enterprises,  and  the  most 
effective  champion  of  the  temperance  and  Sabbath 
reforms  this  country  ever  knew ;  and  Jeremiah 
Evarts,  Esq.,  devoted  to  religious  literature,  mis- 
sions, temperance,  Sunday-school  and  tract  move- 
ments, and  numerous  others — were  also  fruits  of 
that  revival.  Home  Missionary,  Foreign  Mission- 
ary, Bible,  Tract,  and  Sunday-school  Societies 
sprang  up  sporadically  in  the  new  religious  soil. 

Rev.  Heman  Humphrey,  D.D.,  writing  about 
1850,  alluding  to  the  far-reaching  results  of  the  re- 
vival of  1800,  said : 

"  The  glorious  cause  of  religion  and  philanthropy 
has  advanced,  till  it  would  require  a  space  not 
afforded  in  these  sketches  so  much  as  to  name  the 
Christian  and  humane  societies  which  have  sprung 
up  all  over  our  land  within  the  last  forty  years. 
Exactly  how  much  we  at  home  and  the  world 
abroad  are  indebted  for  these  organizations,  so  rich 
in  blessings,  to  the  revivals  of  1800,  it  is  impossible 
to  say,  though  much  every  way.  ...  It  cannot  be 
denied  that  modern  missions  sprang  out  of  these 
revivals.     The  immediate  connection  between  them. 


414       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

as  cause  and  effect,  was  remarkably  clear  in  the 
organization  of  the  first  societies,  which  have  since 
accomplished  so  much ;  and  the  impulse  which 
they  gave  to  the  Churches  to  extend  the  blessings 
which  they  were  diffusing,  by  forming  the  later  af^l 
iated  societies,  of  like  aims  and  character,  is  scarcely 
less  obvious." 

The  religious  quickening  hi  England,  under  the 
Wesleys  and  Whitefield,  was  followed,  at  the  close 
of  the  last  and  the  beginning  of  the  present  cent- 
ury, by  the  organization  of  numerous  societies  for 
Christian  and  beneficent  purposes.  Foreign  and 
Home  Missionary,  Bible,  Tract,  Sunday-school, 
Educational,  Peace,  African  Amelioration,  Seamen's, 
Prison  Discipline,  and  Philanthropic,  Societies  were 
organized,  with  extended  ramifications,  mostly  be- 
tween 1780  and  1830,  with  additions  and  enlarge- 
ments since  the  latter  date.  Their  pecuniary  re- 
ceipts are  among  the  most  wonderful  examples  of 
modern  munificence,  and  the  fruitage  of  Bible,  tract, 
and  mission  work  is  marvelous. 

The  same  tendency  followed  the  religious  quick- 
ening in  America.  During  the  present  century 
American  Christianity  has  fully  attested  its  deep 
vitality  by  its  wonderful  self-organizing  power. 
The  numerous  local  societies  for  missions,  home  and 
foreign,  tracts.  Bibles,  Sunday-schools,  temperance, 
education,  the  Sabbath,  seamen,  etc.,  which  came 
into  existence  during  the  first  two  decades  of  this 


Spiritual  Vitality.  415 

century,  were  subsequently  combined  *  into  large 
national  organizations,  with  countless  auxiliaries 
covering  the  entire  land.  Each  successive  decade 
has  developed  new  organizations,  and  extended 
more  widely  the  old,  comprising  all  conceivable 
forms  of  benevolence  and  beneficence,  and  enlisting 
an  army  of  Christian  workers,  outnumbering  the 
largest  armies  of  ancient  or  modern  times.  The 
last  quarter  of  a  century  has  witnessed  no  decline  in 
these  agencies,  but  rather  a  vast  increase  in  their 
number,  resources,  workers,  and  the  scope  of  their 
operations,  beyond  any  previous  period,  even  sev- 
eral times  greater  than  in  the  previous  half  century. 
Besides  the  purely  Christian  organizations  directly 
connected  with  the  Churches,  there  are  numerous 
philanthropic,  social,  civil,  educational,  and  reform- 
atory societies,  indirectly  or  directly  growing  out  of 
the  impelling  life-flow  of  Christianity.  Thus  has 
the  new  life  attested  its  divinity — quickening,  en- 
lightening, humanizing,  reforming,  and  saving  men. 
"  The  poor  have  the  gospel  preached  unto  them." 

This  new  life  has  also  been  wonderfully  aggress- 
ive and  expansive,  following  closely  the  large  pop- 
ulations spreading  over  our  broad  national  domain 
with  enlightening  and  saving  influences.  Pioneer 
preachers,  colporteurs,  and  Sunday-school  agents, 
stepping  closely  in  the  footprints  of  pioneer  settlers, 
hailing  the  cabin  builder  with  religious  salutations, 

*  Mostly  from  1820  to  183a 


41 6      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

calling  him  to  an  extemporized  worship  on  his  half- 
hewn  log,  and  including  his  home  in  a  plan  for 
future  religious  visitation,  in  the  spirit  of  zealous 
propagandism,  founded  Churches,  Sunday-schools, 
Church  seminaries  and  colleges,  and  made  the  wil- 
derness, less  than  three  generations  ago  a  vast  moral 
waste  of  howling  savages,  to  bud  and  blossom  with 
the  institutions  of  Christian  civilization.  In  the 
region  beyond  the  western  line  of  New  York,  Penn- 
sylvania, Virginia,  North  Carolina,  and  Georgia, 
which,  in  the  year  1800,  had  but  few  scattering 
Protestant  Churches,  there  were,  according  to  the 
Census  of  1890,  106,257  Protestant  Church  organi- 
zations, or  two  thirds  of  all  the  Protestant  Churches 
in  the  United  States — the  abundant  harvest  of  zeal- 
ous pioneer  seed-sowing.  And  what  a  multitude 
of  cognate  religious  institutions  accompany  these 
Churches,  comprising  an  amount  of  Christian  life 
scarcely  paralleled  in  any  other  land — the  results 
of  seventy  years'  labors,  fully  testing  the  spiritual 
vitality  of  the  American  Churches. 

A  great  change  has  taken  place  in  the  spiritual 
activities  of  the  Churches.  Formerly,  prayer-meet- 
ings, except  in  the  occasional  revival  seasons,  were 
rare,  and  only  a  very  few  persons  were  allowed  01 
expected  to  participate  in  them.  All  through  the 
last  century,  and  for  some  time  into  the  present, 
this  custom  prevailed.  The  gifts  of  the  laity  were 
not  exercised,  and  their  voices  were  seldom  heard  in 


1784 


1830 


SlNDAY-ScilDOl. 

Mkmukrshii'. 


1890 


Spiritual  Vitality.  417 

exhortation  or  supplication.  Rev,  Mr.  Fisk,*  of  New 
Braintree,  Mass.,  had  been  pastor  of  that  Church 
eleven  years  before  he  heard  the  first  word  of  prayer 
from  one  of  his  members.  And  when  the  Httlc 
band  of  zealous  evangelicals  went  off  from  the  Old 
South  Church,  Boston,  in  1808,  to  organize  the 
Park-street  Church,tas  a  breakwater  against  the  in- 
coming tide  of  Arianism,  they  met  several  times  for 
consultation  before  any  one  of  even  these  redoubt- 
able champions  of  orthodoxy  had  sufficient  courage 
to  open  his  lips  in  vocal  prayer.  Women  never 
prayed  or  spoke  in  any  religious  services. 

"  The  only  religious  meetings  of  the  week  were 
on  the  Sabbath.  There  was  no  evening  lecture,  no 
altar  for  social  prayer,  no  intercessions  in  concert 
for  the  coming  of  the  kingdom,  no  schools  for  the 
religious  education  of  the  young,  no  religious 
weekly  periodicals,  discoursing  earnestly  of  the 
signs  of  the  times,  the  demands  of  the  age,  the 
great  questions  of  faith  and  practice,  or  giving  tid- 
ings of  the  refreshing  visits  of  the  Spirit  abroad,  and 
thus  quickening  the  sympathies  and  animating  the 
activities  of  Christians  at  home." ;}:  There  were  no 
associations  for  printing  and  scattering  Bibles, 
tracts,  etc. 

*  See  his  "  Half-Century  Discourse." 

f  "  Memorial  Volume." 

X  Deacon  Samuel  Willis,  Judge  Samuel  Hubbard,  and  Peter  Ho- 
bart,  Jun.,  in  the  "  Memorial  Volume  of  the  Park-street  Church. 
Boston,"  p.  130. 


41 8       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

During  the  present  century  marked  progress  has 
been  made  in  the  practical  working  of  the  principle 
of  the  universal  priesthood  of  believers  ;  and  numer- 
ous modifications  have  been  made  in  the  usages  and 
politics  of  all  the  religious  denominations,  bringing 
into  prominence  and  activity  Christian  men  and 
women  in  great  moral  and  spiritual  enterprises. 
True  Christianity,  claiming  the  whole  world  for  its 
field,  is,  in  its  nature,  irrepressible  and  aggressive. 
Almost  within  the  period  of  a  generation  social 
religious  services  have  not  only  come  to  be  regarded 
as  indispensable,  but  increasingly  prominent,  often 
gathering  the  largest  audiences  of  the  Sabbath. 
These  meetings  are  for  the  most  part  lively  and 
spiritual — a  great  advance  upon  those  of  other  days 
— the  few  old-time  prayers  and  exhortations  having 
given  place  to  "  a  cloud  of  witnesses  "  for  Christ. 
Large  numbers  of  Christian  laymen  and  women  are 
engaged  in  religious  work  in  our  cities  and  desti- 
tute localities  throughout  the  country.  Religious 
services  in  halls,  depots,  groves,  public  squares, 
popular  watering-places,  etc.,  are  held  by  Young 
Men's  Christian  Associations,  and  tons  of  religious 
tracts  are  annually  distributed.  The  prisons,  alms- 
houses, and  reformatory  institutions,  are  visited, 
and  Sunday-schools  are  sustained  in  them,  by  lay 
workers.  Sunday-schools,  conducted  by  laymen, 
become  nuclei  of  Churches ;  systematic  religious 
visitation  is  maintained  in  large  centers  by  pious 


Spiritual  Vitality.  419 

women  ;  praying-bands,  of  young  men  and  older 
men,  conduct  scries  of  religious  services;  and  sys- 
tems of  colportage  are  carried  on,  by  unordained 
men,  through  which  large  quantities  of  tracts  and 
religious  volumes  are  scattered  in  the  land. 

An  order  of  deaconesses,  or  class  of  devout 
women  engaged  in  religious  labors,  has  been  recog- 
nized in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and  the 
late  Triennial  Convention  authorized  the  appoint- 
ment of  lay-preachers.  The  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  has  14,274  local  preachers,  and  in  all  branches 
of  Methodism  in  the  world  about  eighty  thousand. 
It  has  also  an  order  of  deaconesses. 

City  missions,  almost  entirely  the  work  of  the 
present  century,  are  conducted  by  lay  agencies. 
The  Boston  City  Mission  Society  (Orthodox  Con- 
gregational)  was  founded  in  1816;  the  New  York 
City  Mission  and  Tract  Society  in  1827;  a  few  oth- 
ers, and  but  very  few,  were  elsewhere  organized  at 
this  early  period.* 

In  the  great  revival  of  1830-1832,  particularly  in 
connection  with  the  religious  labors  of  Harlan  Page 
and  others  in  New  York  city,  a  new  interest  was 
av.akened  in  personal  efforts  for  the  salvation  of  in- 
dividuals, and  in  city  evangelization.  But  the  work 
slowly  progressed,  and  it  is  worthy  of  special  notice, 
that  since  the  year  1850  city  mission  work  through- 
out the  United  States  iias  received  a  much  greater 

»  See  "Church  Almanac."  1879,  p.  27. 
28 


420      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

impulse,  and  the  amount  of  money  and  labor  ex- 
pended has  increased  beyond  all  calculation.  At 
the  present  time  no  cities  are  without  these  agen- 
cies, and  they  are  chiefly  in  the  hands  of  evangelical 
Protestantism. 

"  The  utilization  of  lay  help,"  says  Charles  Mack- 
eson,  "  to  supplement  the  work  of  the  clergy,  is  a 
modern  improvement  of  no  slight  importance  ;  and, 
in  the  Diocese  of  London  alone,  has  brought  into 
the  field  2,788  unpaid  laborers,  121  of  whom  hold 
the  Bishop's  license  to  conduct  services  for  the 
poor.  All  these  centralized  and  consolidated  agen- 
cies may  be  fairly  reckoned  as  not  the  least  impor- 
tant elements  in  the  progress  of  religion  and  phi- 
lanthropy in  London ;  and  not  one  of  them  can  be 
said  to  be  superfluous  in  a  condition  of  society 
which,  unlike  that  of  the  continental  city,  or  even 
of  the  English  provincial  town,  has  led  to  an  almost 
complete  separation  of  classes,  until  between  the 
east  and  west  of  London,  there  is  literally  'a  great 
gulf  fixed ;'  and  it  is  to  bridge  over  the  chasm  that 
the  efforts  of  all  who  wish  well  to  the  race  must  be 
directed."  * 

The  Annual  Reports  of  the  Boston  City  Mission- 
ary Society,  (Orthodox  Congregational,)  probably 
the  most  thoroughly  organized,  intelligent,  and 
spiritual  body  of  laborers  in  the  United  States, 
furnish  the  most  gratifying  exhibits. 

*  "  Britisli  Almanac  and  Companion,"  1880,  p.  134-5. 


Spiritual  Vitality.  421 

Summary  for  Fifty  Years,  1840-1893,  Inclusive. 

Missionaries,  years  of  service 908 

Visits  made 1,936,436 

Different  families  visited 457. 037 

Visits  to  the  sick 266,440 

Papers  and  tracts  distributed 9,257,784 

Bibles  given  away 12,217 

Testaments  given  away I9)940 

Persons  induced  to  attend  public  worship.  . . .  16,598 

Children  gathered  into  Sunday-schools 36,563 

Children  gathered  into  public  schools 5.333 

Chapel  and  neighborhood  meetings  held 84,256 

Hopeful  conversions 3.347 

Persons  furnished  employment 16,209 

Times  pecuniary  aid  to  families 270, 193 

Garments  given  away 291 ,074 

Receipts  of  the  Society  for  the  missions $628,363  08 

Receipts  for  relief  of  the  poor,  Thanksgiving 
and  Christmas  offerings,  and  Fresh  Air 
Fund $412,654  76 

A  table  of  summaries  by  decades  (Report,  1891, 
at  end)  shows  a  steady  increase,  in  almost  every 
item,  in  each  decade.  The  receipts  in  the  last 
decade  are  $100,000  more  than  two  decades  ago  ; 
the  missionary  labor,  fifty  years  more  ;  tiie  visits, 
130,000  more;  the  conversions,  nearly  twice  as 
many ;  persons  furnished  employment,  more  than 
twice  as  many  ;  pecuniary  aid  afforded,  50  per  cent. 
more  times;  and  nearly  twice  as  much  aid  in 
amount  given,  in  the  last,  as  in  the  former  period. 
Such  statistics  are  not  dry  figures,  but  are  resonant 
with  the  eloquence  of  deeds. 

Other  denominations  have  numerous  missions  in 


422      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Boston  which  cannot  be  stated  here  in  detail,  all 
of  which  are  penetrating  all  classes  of  the  popula- 
tion. If  we  allow  one  third  of  the  population 
wholly  neglect  public  worship,  and  another  third 
to  be  detained  from  the  sanctuary  by  illness,  or  as 
nurses,  or  on  account  of  old  age  or  tender  child- 
hood, we  have  another  third  who  may  be  reckoned 
as  worshipers,  some  of  whom  are  very  irregular. 
The  accommodations  for  worship  will  appear  from 
this  table :  * 

Churches,  Chapels,  Mission,  and  Branch  and  Mission 
Sunday-schools. 


Location. 


East  Boston 

East  Boston 

Charlestown 

Charlestovvn 

Charlestown   

North  End 

North  End 

West  End 

West  End   

Court  to  Kneeland  Street 

Back   Bay 

South  Cove 

South  Boston 

South  Boston 

South  Boston 

South  End 

South  End 

South  End 

Roxbury 

Roxbury 

Roxbury 

Roxbury 

West  Roxbury 

Dorchester 

Brighton 


19.633 
17,297 
13,094 
12,842 

12,413 

18,447 
13,145 
13,026 
12,660 
8,205 
21,660 
12,585 
22,375 
26,367 
18,049 
18,048 
15,638 
16, 


"35 
992 
.335 
042 

iOII 

997 
550 
,032 


448,477 


34    296 


One 
for 
each 


2,805 
1,572 
4.365 
6,421 
1,241 
1,230 
1,314 
1,447 
1,809 

342 

677 
1,144 
7,458 
2,637 
3,008 
3,008 

977 
1,782 
2,090 
2,704 
1,440 
2,859 
1,087 
1,137 

926 


*  "  Report  of  the  Boston  City  Mission  Society  for  1S90." 


Spiritual  Vitality. 


423 


Here  is  one  church  or  chapel  for  1,500  in  the 
whole  city,  with  ample  room  left  for  evangelizing 
work,  in  providing  for  the  more  neglected  localities, 
and  the  better  cultivation  of  the  best  provided 
sections. 

The  following  statements  show  the  character  of 
New  York  city  as  a  mission  field,  a  character 
toward  which  other  cities  are  approaching. 

Population  of  the  city  in  1890,  1,513,491;  males, 
747,579;  females,  767,722.  There  is  also  a  large 
transient  population,  seamen,  boatmen,  visitors  at 
hotels,  immigrants,  etc.,  probably  40,000.  Of 
the  population,  as  taken  from  the  Census,  871,858 
were  born  in  the  United  States,  and  639,943  foreign 
born. 

*  Religious  Analysis  for  60  Years. 


Years. 

Population. 

Churches. 

Average. 

1830... 

202,589 

109                ] 

church  to  1,858  inhabitants 

1840. . . 

312,852 

170               ] 

[       "        "   1,840 

1850. .. 

515.394 

246 

[       "        "  2,095 

1S60. . . 

813,669 

347 

[       "        "  2,344 

1870. . . 

942,293 

470 

[       "        "  2,044 

1880. . . 

1,206,229 

489 

[       "        "  2,468 

1890. . . 

1,513,491 

537 

[       "        "  2,819           " 

1893... 

1,801,739 

579 

[       "        "  3,112           " 

The  above  suggests  a  theme  for  study,  and  pre- 
sents a  view  of  one  of  the  most  urgent  and  difficult 
fields  for  Christian  effort  in  the  United  States.  This 
is  a  place  for  calm  but  strong  faith. 

*"  Report  of  New  Y'orls.  City  Mission  Society,"  1S94,  pp.  262-3. 


424      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

*  Relative  Number  of  Churches. 

Jews,  Protestant 

vr                                        Roman              Unitarians,  Evangelical 

*^"^-                              Catholic.          Universalists,  Churches 

Miscellaneous.  combined. 

1830 46  99 

1840 7  12  151 

1850 19  16  221 

i860 32  22  293 

1870 41  49  380 

1880 56  39  396 

1890 77  loi  412 

1893 86  112  426 

Communicants  of  Four  Protestant  Churches  in  New 
York  City. 

1865.  1880.  1891,  1893. 

Baptist 10,469  12,476  13.952  14.469 

Methodist 9.192  11.967  13,280  I4.55I 

Presbyterian....      15,086  18,950  23,299  23,746 

Episcopal 12,139  23,631  37,915  42,413 

Total 46,896         67,024         88,446         95,179 

Lutheran *  16,666 

The  above  four  denominations  show  a  slight  gain 
on  the  total  population,  from  one  member  in  17.9 
inhabitants  in  1880,  to  one  in  17.4  inhabitants  in 
1 89 1.  The  data,  though  prepared  with  great  labor 
and  discrimination  by  careful  persons,  are  possi- 
bly not  perfect.  Besides,  it  should  be  kept  in 
mind  that  a  large  number  of  the  members  of  these 
Churches,  during  the  period  in  question,  have 
moved  out  into  suburban  localities  and  transferred 
their  membership  also.     A  comparison  including  a 

*"  Report  of  New  York  City  Mission  Society,"  1894,  pp.  262-3. 


SriRiTUAT,  Vitality.  425 

radius  of  twenty-five  miles  is  desirable  in  such  an 
investigation  ;  but  the  data  are  not  easily  gathered 

and  tabulated. 

The  New  York  City  Mission  and  Tract  Society 
is  the  largest  city  mission  society  in  that  city.     For 
many  years  it   was  under  the  superintendence  of 
Mr    Lewis  E.  Jackson,   and  more    recently   under 
Mr.   Morris    K.  Jesup    and    Rev.  A.   F.  Schauffler, 
D.D.     There  have  been  single  years  when  it  nas 
employed  40  missionaries,  besides   assistants,  who 
have    made    33,787    visits   annually.     In    54  years, 
1826-1880,  2,421,994   visits  were  made,   5^476.740 
tracts  were  distributed  ;  90,027   Bibles   and  Testa- 
ments given  away;  besides  a  large  number  of  chil- 
dren gathered  into  Sunday-schools  and  day-schools; 
257652    persons    induced    to    attend    public   wor- 
ship,   and    I3,9H    converts    united    to    evangelical 

Churches. 

The  New  York  City  Church  Extension  and  Mis- 
sionary Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
orcranized  in  1866,  has  proved  to  be  a  very  efficient 
organization.  Rev.  M.  D'C.  Crawford,  D.D.,  is 
the  president.     For  1893  it  reported  : 

22 

Churches  and  chapels 

Pastors  and  assistants 

.  3i347 

Communicants 

Probationers '  ^^^^^g 

Visits  made a'  1 1;3 

Visits  to  sick... ;         ' 

Pages  of  tracts  distributed 


426      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

In  twenty-seven  }'ears  it  reports: 

Visits  made 639,873 

Visits  to  the  sick 53.893 

Paid  on  chapel  property $591,846  02 

Paid  on  current  expenses $1,965,638  13 

Conversions 14,339 

Cit}'  mission  organizations  are  now  universal  in 
all  American  cities,  and  all  of  them  the  growth  of 
the  last  seventy-seven  years. 

The  general  home  missionary  work  of  the  coun- 
try has  enlisted  a  large  amount  of  lay  and  clerical 
talent,  and  developed  astonishing  results.  The  un- 
paralleled increase  of  our  population  since  1790 
has  created  extraordinary  demands  upon  the  Chris- 
tian activity  of  the  American  Churches.  With  an 
average  yearly  gain  in  population  more  than  three 
times  as  large  as  in  any  European  country,  new  vil- 
lages and  cities  springing  up  as  by  magic,  and  the 
inhabitants  spreading  over  an  immense  territorial 
area,  it  has  been  incumbent  upon  the  Churches  to 
furnish  the  new  communities  with  religious  watch- 
care  and  instruction.  Large  masses  of  ignorant  and 
unevangelized  people  from  other  lands — Papists  and 
Rationalists  from  Europe,  and  heathen  from  Asia — 
have  crowded  to  our  shores,  and  the  utmost  dili- 
gence and  sterling  virtue  have  been  required  to  pre- 
serve the  land  from  misrule  and  ruin.  How  have 
these  moral  and  religious  necessities  been  met  ? 
Has  the  spiritual  vitality  of  the  Churches  been  suffi- 
cient for  these  demands  ? 


Spiritual  Vitality,  427 

The  great  revivals  of  religion  extending  through 
the  nation  at  the  opening  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
followed  by  successive  waves  of  spiritual  impulse  in 
the  subsequent  decades,  prepared  the  Churches  to 
appreciate  the  necessities  of  the  situation,  and  in- 
spired them  with  the  requisite  spirit  of  self-sacrific- 
ing labor.  Home  Missionary  Societies,  the  imme- 
diate fruits  of  the  new  revival  era,  sprang  up,  mul- 
tiplying auxiliaries  and  laborers,  and  spreading 
through  thousands  of  localities.  In  reviewing  the 
century  we  cannot  fail  to  recognize  the  profound 
significance  of  those  providential  movements  which 
turned  back  the  dark  tide  of  infidelity  spreading 
over  the  land  at  the  close  of  the  last  century,  and 
prepared  the  way,  in  the  American  Churches,  by 
which  the  nation  has  been  religiously  permeated 
and  strengthened  to  endure  so  well  the  severe  strain 
from  the  large  exotic  and  heterogeneous  masses  ab- 
sorbed in  its  population. 

The  full  record  of  the  labors  of  these  Home  Mis- 
sionary Societies,  about  thirty-five  in  number,  not 
including  City  Societies,  would  fill  many  pages  with 
most  significant  statistics  and  evidences  of  im- 
mense spiritual  force.  Their  toils  and  triumphs 
cannot  be  matched  in  either  ancient  or  modern 
times. 

The  following  partial  aggregates,  taken  from  oflfi- 
cial  reports,  of  Home  Missionary  Societies,  combine 
such  data  as  can  be  obtained  for  a  single  year  : 


428      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Ministers,  licentiates,  colporteurs,  and  teachers  employed 
by  eighteen  societies 9.033 

Localities  supplied,  reported  by  eight  societies 9.3^5 

Conversions   and  additions  to  the  Churches   reported  by 

nine  societies .      .  ,      26,918 

Churches  organized  in  one  year  reported  by  five  socie- 
ties   332 

Sunday-schools  organized  in  one  year  reported  by  four  so- 
cieties         4,621 

Sunday-school  scholars  reported  by  ten  societies 548,569 

Time  spent  in  labor,  by  missionaries,  in  one  year,  reported 

by  seven  societies,  equal  to (years)         1,906 

Religious  visits  in  one  year  reported  by  missionaries  of  five 
societies 920,202 

Prayer-meetings  held  by  missionaries  of  three  societies  in 
one  year I7ii3i 


The  system  of  colportage,  inaugurated  by  the 
American  Tract  Society  in  1 841,  has  been  another 
important  lay  agency,  exhibiting,  in  a  practical  form, 
the  vital  religious  force  of  the  Churches.  In  1850 
their  number  had  increased  to  508,  and  their  labors 
were  extended  to  the  German,  Irish,  French,  Welsh, 
Norwegian,  and  Spanish  populations,  both  Prot- 
estant and  Papal,  in  all  portions  of  the  land,  but  es- 
pecially throughout  the  Mississippi  Valley.  They 
went  forth  from  house  to  house,  selling  religious 
books  wherever  practicable,  bestowing  them  gratu- 
itously among  the  poor,  accompanying  their  visits 
with  religious  conversation  and  prayer,  holding  re- 
ligious meetings,  forming  Sunday-schools,  promot- 
ing temperance,  and  in  many  other  ways  advancing 
the  kingdom  of  God. 


Spiritual  Vitality.  429 

The  following  partial  summaries  of  the  Home 
Missionary  and  Colportage  work,  full  of  instructive 
significance,  will  be  pondered  with  pleasure  and 
profit : 

Religious  Visits. 

By  missionaries  of  the  Baptist  Home  Missionaiy  Society 

in  61  years 3,710,187 

By  agents  or  colporteurs  of  Baptist  Publication  Society 

in  69  years 1,202,043 

By  colporteurs  of  American  Tract  Society  in  52  years..  .  14,163,167 
By  colporteurs  of  American  Bible  Society  in  28  years..  .  16,468,078 
By  colporteurs  of  Presbyterian    Board  of  Publication 

in  40  years ...       3, 390,940 

Total  visits 38,934,415 

Prayer-meetings  Held. 

By  missionaries  of  the  Baptist  Home  Missionary  Society 

in  61  years 821,393 

By  colporteurs  of   Baptist  Board  of  Publication  in  39 

years 108,939 

By  colporteurs  of  the  American  Tract  Society  in  52  years         476,558 

Total  by  agents  of  three  Boards 1,406,890 

Additions  to  Churches  by  Profession  of  Faith. 

By  missionaries  of  American  Home  Missionary  Society 

in  67  years 409,257 

By  missionaries  of  Presbyterian  Home  Missionary  So- 
ciety in  15  years 115,304 

By  missionaries  of  Baptist  Home  Missionary  Society  in 

61  years 128,181 

Total  by  agents  of  three  Boards 652,742 


430      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Religious  Volumes  Given  Away. 
By  colporteurs  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication 

in  40  years 1,750,097 

By  agents  and  colporteurs  of  Baptist  Publication  Board 

in  6g  years 143,060 

By  colporteurs  of  American  Tract  Society  in  52  years.. .       3,176,215 
By  colporteurs  of  American  Bible  Society  in  28  years.. .       2,249,731 

Total  by  agents  of  four  Boards 7,319,103 

Pages  of  Religious  Tracts  Given  Away. 
By  agents  and  colporteurs  of  Baptist  Publication  Board 

in  69  years 42,007,846 

By  colporteurs  of  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication  in 

40  years 193,308,019 

Total  pages  of  tracts  by  two  Boards 235,315,865 

Other  Boards  have  gratuitously  distributed  large 
quantities  of  tracts,  but  we  are  unable  to  tabulate 
them.  The  American  Tract  Society  has  published 
9,571,101,032  pages  of  tracts  from  the  beginning,  69 
years  ago,  and  has  sold  12,595,771  volumes  of  books 
in  the  last  52  years. 

Years  of  Labor  Performed. 

By  missionaries  of  American   Home  Missionary  Society 

in  67  years 48,701 

By  missionaries  of  Baptist  Home  Missionary  Society  in 

61  years 11,303 

By  missionaries  of  Presbyterian  Board  of  Home  Mis- 
sions  in  II  years 9,453 

By  colporteurs  of  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication  in 

40  years 7,504 

By  agents  and  colporteurs  of  Baptist  Board  of  Publica- 
tion in  45  years 1,029 


Spiritual  Vitality.  431 

By  colporteurs  of   the  American  Tract  Society    in   52 

years 5.955 


Total  by  agents  of  six  Boards 83,545 

These  are  only  partial  exhibits  of  the  spiritual 
activities  of  the  American  Churches  during  the  last 
half  century.  If  the  full  statistics  could  be  gathered 
they  would  thrill  and  amaze  us.  What  we  have 
here  gathered  are  highly  significant,  and  indicate 
religious  activities  of  incalculable  proportions,  al- 
most wholly  unknown  until  within  the  last  eighty 
years.  They  are  unmistakable  evidences  of  the 
deep  spiritual  vitality  of  the  modern  Churches,  and 
their  ardent  aggressive  force. 

The  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  has  be- 
come one  of  the  great  factors  in  the  evangelization 
of  the  masses.  The  product  of  the  last  fifty  years, 
they  have  come  to  number  over  5,000  Associations 
in  all  parts  of  the  world.  Early  in  June,  1894,  this 
body  celebrated  its  Golden  Jubilee  in  London,  at 
which  the  doxology  was  sung  in  twenty  different 
languages,  receiving  recognition  from  Queen  Vic- 
toria and  honors  at  Westminster  Abbey.  Else- 
where in  many  cities  celebrations  were  held,  in 
which  eminent  gentlemen  participated.  All  this 
because,  fifty  years  ago,  a  consecrated  Christian  lay- 
man, Mr.  George  Williams,  believing  it  would  pay 
to  undertake  special  work  for  young  men,  acted  on 
his  conviction. 


432      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

The  following  table  will  show  the  number  of 
these  Associations,  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  com- 
paring the  growth  from  1880  to  1894,  showing  an 
increase  of  nearly  3,000  Associations  in  14  years: 


Young  Men's  Christian  Associations  in  the  World. 


1880. 

1894. 

1880.     1894. 

America. 

United  States. . 

792 
(?)15 

1        ^ 

1,315 

81 
I 
I 
2 
I 
2 
I 
8 

Bulgaria 

Europ'n  Turkey 

Total,   Europe. 

Asia. 

India 

I 
I 

Mexico 

Bermuda 

Argentine  Rep. 
Brazil 

1,272 
2 
2 
4 

3,479 

74 

17 

9 

29 

24 
2 

British  Guiana. 

Uruguay 

West  Indies.. . 

Ceylon 

China 

Japan  

Asiatic  Turkey. 
Persia 

Total  America 

810 

[    295 

65 
293 
406 

204 

6 

8 

15 

I 

1,412 

597 

246 

102 

1,005 

744 
130 

354 

133 

43 

50 

12 

I 

34 
II 

3 
12 

Syria 

12 

Europe. 

England   and 

Wales 

Scotland 

France 

Germany 

Holland 

Denmark 

Switzerland..  .  . 

Norway 

Sweden 

Italy 

Total,  Asia 

Africa. 

Madagascar. . . . 
North  Africa. . . 
W.  Cent.  Africa 
South  Africa. . . 

Total,   Africa.. 

Oceanica. 

Australia 

New  Zealand. . 
Hawaii 

Total,  Oceanica 
Aggregate 

8 

I 

167 

2 

5 

I 

16 

I 

13 

I 

24 

Spain 

19 

Greece 

Belgium 

Austria 

Hungary 

Russia 

4 
4 

14 
2,113 

27 
5,109 

Fuller  details  will  be  desired,  and  are  here  given 
for  the  United  States,  as  far  as  reported : 


Spiritual  Vitality.  433 

Number  and  Memhership. 
1,286  Associations  have  sent  in  reports. 
1,244  of  these  report  an  aggregate  Membership  of. . ..  232,653 

1,166  report  an  Active  Membership  of 109,291 

1,074  report  tiie  number  of  Members  serving  on  Com- 
mittees    35)907 

Financial. 

291  Associations  own  Buildings  valued  at $15,155,950 

106  own  other  Real  Estate  valued  at 1,220,310 

Total  Property  in  Buildings  and  other  Real 

Estate $16,376,260 

Deduct  debt 3,818,290 

Net  Property  in  Buildings  and  otiier  Real 

Estate 812,557,970 

118  report  Building  Funds  paid  in,   amounting  to..  452,900 

38  report  Endowment  Funds  paid  in,  amounting  to  381,944 

2  report  Special  Funds  paid  in,  amounting  to.  .  .  .  I55.I75 

842  report  Furniture  valued  at 1,095,156 

612  report  Libraries  of  50  or  more  volumes,  valued  at  428,164 

The  Niblo  Library  Endowment  Fund — N.  Y.  C'y  107,500 

13  other  Library  Funds  paid  in 32,230 

Total  net  Property $15,211,039 

153  report  Building  Funds  pledged •.  .  .  $1,613,160 

2  report  Library  Funds  pledged 2,400 

4  report  Endowment  Funds  pledged 7,200 

984  report  cash  paid  out  for  Current  Expenses 2,138,097 

Physical,  Intellectual,  and  Social. 

524  report  attention  to  Physical  Culture  ;  473  through 
gymnasiums,  and  297  through  other  means, 
including  baseball,  rambling,  rowing,  and 
swimming  clubs,  bowling  alleys,  and  classes 
in  calisthenics. 

654  report  total  average  Daily  Attendance  at  Rooms  of  71,011 

789  report  Reading  Rooms. 


434      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

638  report  Libraries  of  50  or  more  volumes,  contain- 
ing volumes  to  the  number  of 476,572 

190  report  Literary   Societies,  with   a  total  average 

attendance  of 4^  506 

568  report  4,795  Lectures  and  Entertainments. 

774  report  3,829  Sociables. 

304  report  Educational  Classes ;  the  branches  taught 
in  individual  Associations  number  from  one 
to  fifteen  or  more. 

294  report  20,253  different  Students  of  Colleges  in 
their  Educational  Classes. 

Religious, 

(Meetings  for  Young  Men  Exclusively.) 
490  Associations  report  15,493  Bible  Class  Sessions, 

14,613  of  which  had  a  total  attendance  of.  226,832 

452  report    11,504    Bible    Training    Class  Sessions, 

11,362  of  which  had  a  total  attendance  of.  111,667 

1,108  report  64,967  Young  Men's  Meetings,  58,853  of 

which  had  a  total  attendance  of 2,583,007 

219  in   schools  and  colleges,    report    1,738    Foreign 

Missionary  Meetings,  1,738  of  which  had  a 

total  attendance  of 64,194 

Miscellaneous. 

340  report  10,725  Situations  Secured. 

581  have  Women's  Auxiliaries  or  Committees. 

•    Departments. 

95  Railroad  Branches  and   Associations  send  in  reports  ;  98  are 
in  existence. 

90  of  these  employ  1 20  General  Secretaries  and  Assistants. 

II  German  Branches  and  Associations  send  in  reports  ;  11  are  in 
existence. 

10  German  Branches  employ   14  General  Secretaries  and  Assist- 
ants. 
397  College  Associations  send  in  reports  ;  444  are  in  existence. 


Spiritual  Vitality.  435 

15  College  Associations  employ  15  College  General  Secretaries. 
37  Colored  Associations  send  in  reports  ;  27  of  which  are  located 

in  schools  and  colleges. 
21  Indian  Associations,  and  4  Indian  College  Associations,  send 

in  reports. 
252  Associations  report  organized  work  for  Boys. 
251  of  these  report  a  Membership  of  15,924  I  152  report  271  sep- 
arate Rooms  ;  204  report  7,40l  Religious  Meetings  ;   156 
report  2,537  Secular  Meetings. 

In  five  years  one  Association  distributed  eleven 
tons  of  religious  tracts.  The  non-professional  char- 
acter  of  these  lay-workers  gives  them  access  to 
some  who  would  reject  the  professional  visitations 
of  the  clergy.  They  prosecute  evangelistic  labors, 
literally  fulfilling  the  command,  "  Go  out  into  the 
highways  and  hedges,  and  compel  them  to  come 
in."  In  the  larger  cities  they  go  into  saloons,  bil- 
liard parlors,  concert  halls,  "  to  the  very  borders  of 
hell,"  to  rescue  their  fellow-men  from  ruin.  They 
visit  hotels,  boarding-houses,  and  workshops  to  find 
out  strangers  coming  into  the  city,  to  invite  them 
to  the  Association  rooms,  and  shield  them  from  the 
snares  which  surround  unsophisticated  youth. 

The  Young  Woman's  Christian  Association  was 
not  instituted  until  1870,  but  it  comprises  63  organ- 
izations, in  the  largest  cities  of  the  Union.  Differ- 
ent from  the  Young  Men's  Association,  it  provides 
homes  and  boarding-houses  for  young  women.  It 
has  property  valued  at  $2,208,612,  with  accommo- 
dations for  6,695  young  women  reported  by  32 
29 


436      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

homes.  The  members  number  21,527.  These  As- 
sociations impart  instruction  in  sewing  and  other 
domestic  arts.  They  have  excellent  libraries,  and 
afford  many  social  privileges.  An  employment 
bureau  is  a  good  feature.  Socially,  intellectually, 
morally,  and  religiously  it  is  a  very  helpful  institu- 
tion, illustrating  concrete  Christianity. 

In  addition  to  these  recently  developed  forms  of 
Christian  activity,  so  numerous  and  potential  in 
the  home  field,  and  wholly  unlike  any  religious 
effort  in  former  times,  numerous  Foreign  Mission- 
ary Societies  have  been  organized  in  Europe  and 
America,  all  but  seven  within  the  present  century, 
and  forty  within  the  last  fifty  years,  sustaining  in 
the  foreign  field  9,624  foreign  missionaries  and 
52,422  native  assistants,  ministering  to  at  least 
one  and  a  quarter  million  communicants  in  mis- 
sion Churches,  and  three  millions  of  adherents 
who  have  renounced  paganism.*  Such  are  the 
inroads  made  into  the  empire  of  pagan  darkness 
within  the  last  century.  Never,  since  the  apos- 
tles' age,  has  the  Christian  Church  so  deeply  felt 
her  obligation  to  convert  the  world  as  during  the 
last  fifty  years. 

And  yet,  with  all  these  new  and  manifold  activi- 
ties every-where  bearing  ample  fruits  of  Christian 
beneficence,  we  are  told  that  the  spiritual  vitality 
of  American  Protestantism  has  sadly  declined. 
*See  Tables  XVI,  XVII,  XVIII  (Appendix)  for  fuller  statistics. 


Spiritual  Vitality.  437 

Such  is  the  blindness  of  those  who,  having  eyes, 
see  not. 

The  progress  of  pecuniary  benevolence  in  the 
Churches  is  another  evidence  of  advancing  spiritu- 
ality. It  shows  the  overmastering  power  of  Chris- 
tian love  in  the  human  heart,  breaking  down  its 
selfishness,  and  drawing  it  out  in  practical  offerings 
for  the  good  of  others.  It  is  a  crucial  test  of  real 
religious  progress. 

It  is  not  possible  for  us  now  to  appreciate  the 
stern  contest  with  covetousness  which  the  founders 
of  the  Foreign  and  Home  Missionary  organizations 
fought  in  the  first  twenty-five  years  of  this  century. 
The  standard  of  giving  was  very  low,  while  the 
number  of  the  givers  was  much  smaller  relatively. 
The  fathers  tell  tales  of  penuriousness  in  those  days 
which  now  seem  scarcely  probable.  Dr.  Harris' 
magnificent  prize  essay  on  "  Mammon,"  published 
in  1836,  since  followed  by  numerous  other  valuable 
books  and  tracts  on  systematic  giving,  and  floods 
of  sermons  and  homilies  on  the  same  subject,  have 
exerted  a  powerful  influence  for  pecuniary  liber- 
ality. A  change  for  good  is  very  perceptible,  but 
the  battle  is  not  fully  fought. 

We  have  collected  and  tabulated  summaries  of 
the  receipts  of  the  Foreign  and  Home  Missionary 
Boards  of  the  evangelical  Churches  of  the  United 
States.  Arranged  in  a  table,  they  constitute  an 
instructive  object  lesson. 


438      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


Receipts  from  Great  Christian  Agencies. 
(For  full  tables  see  Appendix,  pp.  705-7.) 


Years. 


Foreign 
Mission 
Boards. 


Home 
Mission 
Boards. 


Religious 
Publication 
Houses.* 


I 790-1 829  . 
1810-1819  .  . 
1820-1829  .  . 
1830-1839  .. 
1840-1849  .  . 
1850-1859  .  . 
1860-1869  .. 
1870-1880  .. 
i88i-i894t. 
Additional  j. 


$206,210 

745,718 

2,885,839 

5,087,922 

8,427,284 

12,929,715 

21,425,121 

44.390,389 
2,000,000 


$233,826 

2,342,712 

3,062,354 

8,099,659 

21,043,892 

29,982,534 

51,402,640 

5,000,000 


$2,385,162 


4,539,096 
7,187,403 
18,382,317 
30,119,595 
42,169,863 
55,475.270 
9,000,000 


Total 1   $101,561,964     I  $138,893,303     j  $170,579,723 


Average 

Yearly. 

1830-1839  

$288,583 

$234,271 

$453,909 

1840-1849  

508,792 

306,235 

718,403 

IS50-I859    .... 

842,728 

809,965 

1,838,231 

I860-I869  

1,292,971 

2,104,389 

3,011,959 

I870-I880  

1,947,738 

2,725,685 

3,833,624 

I88I-I894  

3,551,231 

4,112,211 

4,438,016 

We  look  with  great  satisfaction  upon  these  grand 
aggregates — for  Foreign  Missions,  $101,561,964  ;  for 
Home  Missions,  $138,893,304;  raised  for  these  two 
leading  benevolences.  For  Foreign  Missions  almost 
nothing  was  raised  in  America  until  since  18 10,  and 
only  two  or  three  Home  Missionary  Boards  were 
organized  until  after  1800,  and  even  those  were  very 
small,  and  the  scope  of  their  operations  was  narrow. 

*  Receipts  from  sales,  periodicals,  etc.,  as  well  as  gifts — all  funds 
entering  into  religious  publication  work.  All  these  Boards  do  much 
home  mission  work — indeed,  all  their  work  is  for  the  elevation  of  our 
home  population. 

\  A  part  of  them  end  in  1893. 

X  Sums  reported  in  aggregates,  and  not  by  periods. 


Spiritual  Vitality. 


439 


There  was  some  unorganized  home  missionary  work 
I)rior  to  1800,  but  there  has  been  vastly  more  of  this 
kind  of  work  since  1800,  which  is  wholly  unrepre- 
sented in  the  above  table. 

The  foregoing  tables  show  amounts  raised  by 
the  evangelical  people  of  the  United  States  for 
illuminating,  elevating,  and  evangelizing  purposes 
during  the  present  century.  The  reported  amounts 
are  far  from  including  the  whole,  for  no  tabulation 
is  possible  for  large  expenditures  by  some  denomi- 
nations. They  have  been  sought  for  in  vain.  And 
the  sums  received  from  "  sales,"  by  the  Publication 
Boards,  represent  products  which  had  their  origin  in 
large  donations  from  Christian  people,  and  which 
have  been  husbanded  and  wisely  accumulated  under 
good  business  management.  The  Sunday-school, 
the  Tract  and  Religious  Publication  Boards  are 
therefore  essentially  evangelizing  and  illuminating 
agencies!  The  three  classes  of  religious  factors 
combined  amount  to  $412,492,454. 

Average  Annual  Amounts. 


1850-1859. 
1860-1869. 
1870-1880. 
1881-1894. 


For  Foreign  and 
Home  Missions. 


$1,652,793 
3.397.350 
4,673,423 
7,663,442 


Including  Religious 
Publicaiion  Work. 

$3,491,024 
6,409,309 
8,507,047 

12,101.458 


It  is  probable  that,  in  the  last  thirty-four  years, 
American  Protestantism  has  raised  more  money  for 
purely  evangelizing  purposes,  than  all  Christendom 


440      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

raised  in  the  previous  three  centuries  for  the  same 
purposes. 

It  is  an  encouraging  fact  that  since  i88i,in  which 
period  we  have  suffered  so  much  and  so  long  from 
financial  embarrassments,  these  two  grand  charities 
of  American  Protestantism  have  not  declined,  but 
have  averaged  $7,663,442  yearly,  or  over  four  and  a 
half  times  as  much  as  the  yearly  average  from  1850 
to  1859.  These  facts  show  the  abiding  devotion  of 
Christian  people  to  these  two  great  causes,  in  times 
financial  stringency  and  reverse. 

It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  the  increase  in  pe- 
cuniary benevolence  has  more  nearly  corresponded 
with  the  advance  in  national  wealth  than  at  any 
former  period.  During  the  same  period  the  vakie 
of  the  Church  property  of  the  denominations  repre- 
sented in  the  above  tables,  (the  Evangelical  Protest- 
ant Churches,)  as  given  by  the  United  States  Cen- 
sus, increased  from  $71,275,909  in  1850,  to  $271,- 
477,391  in  1870;  and  to  $527,093,103  in  1890;  and 
we  do  not  doubt  that  the  money  invested  in  col- 
legiate and  academic  institutions  during  the  same 
time  has  increased  still  more.  These  things  show 
that  the  Christian  people  are  advancing  well  in  the 
right  direction ;  and  we  should  be  stimulated  to 
greater  progress. 

In  this  almost  infinite  number  of  wayside  labor- 
ers, is  it  strange  that  some  are  not  profound  think- 
ers,  mature    Christians,    or   discreet   actors?      Are 


Spiritual  Vitality.  441 

they  not  deepening,  maturing,  and  learning  wisdom, 
as  others  have  done,  by  the  old  process  of  experi- 
ence ?  Some  may  have  erred  in  carrying  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  priesthood  of  believers  to  an  extreme, 
discarding  the  Christian  ministry  as  a  divinely  insti- 
tuted order  of  the  Church  ;  some  local  communities 
have  suffered  from  religious  decline ;  some  Churches 
have  died  out,  from  change  of  population,  unwis- 
dom, possibly  from  more  culpable  causes ;  some  are 
in  a  transitional  condition,  occasioning  anxiety  in 
regard  to  the  results  ;  some  sad  cases  of  collapse 
and  ruin  have  occurred  in  men  occupying  high 
religious  positions ;  some  futile  attempts  at  reform 
have  gone  upon  record  ;  some  abuses  still  survive 
all  denunciations ;  some  outbursts  of  religious  en- 
thusiasm have  left  individuals  and  communities 
almost  barren  of  spiritual  fruitage  ;  and  the  spirit  of 
worldliness  is  often  dominant  in  the  Churches — a 
fatal  impediment  to  progress. 

All  these  things,  and  many  more  still,  exist  with 
mischievous  tendencies.  They  are  imperfections 
incidental  to  human  agents.  Some  wonder  there 
are  not  more  of  them  ;  while  others  wonder  that 
Christianity  can  endure  so  much  imperfection  and 
still  stand  and  work  so  powerfully.  It  is  because 
of  its  inherent  conserving  power,  and  its  immense 
vitality.  The  healthy  body  can  throw  off  great 
quantities  of  devitalized  matter,  resist  malaria, 
heal  wounds,  and  grow  strong  under  heavy  strains. 


442       Problem  ok  Religious  Progress. 

Winters,  tornadoes,  storms,  and  devastating  cur- 
rents do  not  stop  the  course  of  nature. 

Is  it  said,  "  There  is  much  rootless  piety,"  an 
"  incessant  cultivation  of  sentiment,"  a  "  reckless 
popularization "  of  sacred  things,  and  "  floods  of 
namby-pamby  talk?"  Be  it  so.  But  how  slight 
are  these  blemishes  on  the  great  mass  of  true  piety ; 
and  how  much  less  offensive  than  the  whine,  the 
nasal  twang,  the  cant,  the  rant,  the  abnormal  ecstasy, 
the  jerking,  the  selfish  exclusiveness,  the  supersti- 
tion, and  the  torpid  inactivity,  which  characterized 
much  of  the  piety  of  other  days.  Religion  is  less 
sanctimonious,  has  less  of  "holy  tone,"  but  is  not 
less  genuine  and  worthy  of  respect,  but  more  so,  on 
that  account.  There  is  relatively  more  "  well- 
rooted  "  piety,  more  intelligent  religious  affection, 
more  faithful  testimony  for  Christ. 

Is  it  still  insisted  that  much  of  the  work  done  is 
routine  work  ;  that  "  sentiment  substitutes  pleasant 
songs  and  pensive  looks  for  self-denial  and  arduous 
service ;"  and  that  an  antinomian  spirit  often  seeks 
"  to  rectify  a  dishonest  ledger  by  a  prayer,  or  gild 
a  malignant  temper  by  a  holy  tone,  so  that  to  too 
many  modern  religionists  the  words  of  Hood  may 
be  applied,  without  caricature — 

'  Rogue  that  I  am,  I  cheat,  I  lie,  I  steal ; 
But  who  can  say  I  am  not  pious  ?  *' 

There  is  a  measure  of  truth  in  all  these  allega- 
tion.    But  why  are  these  things  so  ? 


Spiritual  Vitality.  443 

"It  is  because  there  is  so  much  genuine  relig- 
ious activity,  and  so  many  new  and  taking  meth- 
ods of  work  and  worship.  The  penumbra  is  child 
of  the  light.  The  evil  is  real ;  its  growth  is  alarm- 
ing ;  not,  however,  as  threatening  the  existence 
or  perpetuity  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  but  as  por- 
tending grievous  falls  for  many  true  believers,  and 
the  stumbling  of  many  sinners,  who,  when  they  fall, 
will  not  rise  again."  * 

Nor  should  it  be  overlooked  that  the  common 
soil  of  humanity  was  never  before  so  widely  plowed 
by  the  Church.  In  large  circles,  among  large 
masses,  it  is  being  plowed  and  sowed  for  the  first 
time  on  purely  voluntary  conditions.  No  hierarchy 
nor  civil  power  interposes  to  exert  a  steadying  or 
sustaining  influence  in  times  oi  fluctuation  or  de- 
cline ;  nor  does  an  overshadowing  formalism  throw 
its  concealing  mantle  over  irregularities  and  defects. 
But  we  have  a  type  of  piety  incalculably  higher  in 
true  elements  of  personal  godliness  than  has  been 
furnished  by  any  other  age,  or  under  hierarchical  or 
State  conditions. 

Is  it  said  that  the  influence  of  religion  is  less 
marked  than  formerly  ?  When  religion  has  con- 
quered its  position,  and  become  an  established 
working  force,  it  cannot  be  expected  to  produce 
such  a  sensation  as  when  it  first  enters  the  field;  yet 

*  See  book  entitled,  "  The  Light :  Is  it  Waning  ?"     Boston,  1879, 
pp.  81,  82,  etc. 


444       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

it  does  not  follow  that  there  is  any  real  declension 
or  loss  of  power.  There  have  been  times  of  much 
physical  demonstration,  and  brief  periods  of  excep- 
tional spasmodic  fervor,  but  such  phenomena  do  not 
measure  Christianity.  Paroxysms  may  attract  at- 
tention, but  do  not  indicate  normal  progress.  Gen- 
uine religious  progress  is  indicated  by  moral  reno- 
vations. In  numberless  instances,  even  within  the 
last  twenty  years,  or  the  last  ten  years,  under  many 
American  preachers,  gospel  truth  has  exhibited  a 
potency  not  excelled  in  any  other  days,  reaching 
and  transforming  large  numbers  of  the  most  aban- 
doned persons,  and  proving  as  all-controlling  in  the 
life,  as  when  Peter  preached,  and  the  disciples  had 
"  all  things  in  common." 

It  is  often  declared  that  the  contrast  between  the 
Church  and  the  world  is  less  perceptible  than  for- 
merly, and  therefore  the  Church  has  degenerated. 
Christianity  has  largely  transformed  Christendom — 
morally,  intellectually,  and  socially — and,  therefore, 
it  cannot  look  as  bright  on  the  new  background  as 
on  the  old.  Her  very  success  has  dimmed  the 
relief.  Christianity  has  "  softened  and  shaded  the 
world  to  her  own  likeness."  How  different  is 
American  society  now  from  eighty  years  ago,  and 
from  the  Roman  world  when  Christianity  entered  it ; 
and  yet  the  distinguishing  characteristics  of  Church 
members  are  the  same  as  in  the  days  of  the  apos- 
tles.    They  bear  the  same  marks  of  attachment  to 


Spiritual  Vitality.  445 

Christ,  and  the  same  evidences  of  genuine  experi- 
ence are  exhibited. 

Rev.  Orville  Dewey,  D. D.,  says:  "When  irreHg- 
ious  skeptics,  learned  or  worldly  wise,  tell  us  that  re- 
ligion is  to  die  out,  we  can't  think  much  of  it.  There 
is  a  foolish  talk,  I  sometimes  hear,  about  faith's 
iiaving  been  greater  in  the  dark  Middle  Ages  than 
it  is  now ;  credulity  it  should  be  called.  Faith, 
true  faith,  deepens  as  thought,  reasoning,  feeling, 
the  heart's  great  searching,  goes  deeper.  It  is  so 
to-day.  As  knowledge  grows,  as  culture  advances, 
there  are  more  and  more  men  whose  souls  are 
fraught  full  with  a  swelling  and  undying  sense 
of  religion  ;  who  seek  after  God,  after  the  living 
God,  and  feel  that  all  the  interest  of  life  is  gone  if 
that  great  all-hallowing  Presence  is  gone  from  the 
world.  No ;  religions  may  die  out  of  the  world, 
but  not  religion.  Forms,  usages,  false  ideas  of 
religion,  have  changed  and  will  change,  but  not  the 
central  reality."  * 

Rev.  Dr.  Henry  W.  Bellows  has  said  of  the  wide- 
ly diffused  and  operative  influence  of  Christianity 
in  our  times,  "  Christianity  is  happily  quite  as  much 
in  the  world  as  in  the  visible  Church.  Its  leaven  is 
working,  never  so  powerfully  as  now,  in  politics, 
literature,  life.  ...  A  great  part  of  the  piety  once 
expended  in  emotion,  and  profession,  and  dogmatic 
belief  has  gone  into  practical  action.  It  has  passed 
♦  "  Unitarian  Review,"  January,  1877,  pp.  66. 


44^      Problem  of  Religious  Progress 

out  of  the  sanctuary  into  the  workshop ;  is  no  longer 
exclusively  in  the  religious  organ,  but  in  the  gen- 
eral organism ;  is  not  to  be  seen  in  the  shape  of  pure 
leaven,  but  in  the  lightness  and  wholesomeness  of 
the  loaf.  Religious  faith,  which  takes  form  in  gor 
geous  cathedrals,  gay  festivals,  and  splendid  rituals, 
may  indicate  the  exclusive  predominance  foi  an  age 
of  certain  powerful  religious  ideas,  but  by  no  means 
indicate  the  prevalence  of  equality,  justice,  truth, 
self-respect,  or  private  worth.  Protestantism  buries 
its  Christian  ideas  in  secret  places,  in  private  hearts 
and  consciences,  and  they  come  up  in  domestic, 
social,  and  political  rights  and  graces.  Roman  Ca- 
tholicism places  hers  in  golden  chalices,  and  under 
embroidered  cloths  upon  the  altar,  to  be  worshiped; 
and  they  remain,  not  without  influence,  but  essen- 
tially barren  and  powerless  for  the  advancement  of 
society. 

"  We  cannot  admit,  therefore,  that  the  Christian 
religion,  or  Protestant  Christianity,  so  far  as  it  is  the 
Christian  religion,  is  declining,  or  waning  in  influ- 
ence, or  demands  any  new  forces,  or  has  failed  to 
accomplish  the  expectations  of  its  Founder,  or  the 
reasonable  hopes  of  his  faithful  disciples.  We  can- 
not concede  that  the  doubt  or  question  of  certain 
theological  ideas  long  associated  with  Christianity, 
which  now  prevails,  is  any  discredit  to  the  truth  or 
reality  of  the  Gospel.  We  seem  to  see  the  faith  of 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  every  day  emerging  from  the 


Spiritual  Vitality.  447 

cerements  in  which  it  has  been  buried,  Hke  Lazarus 
in  his  tomb."* 

The  multiplication  of  schools,  books,  newspapers, 
and,  especially,  religious  literature,  and  the  loud 
demand  for  universal  illumination,  prove  that  the 
mind  of  Christendom  is  rising,  and  going  forth,  on 
a  scale  and  with  an  impulse  never  before  witnessed. 
How  mighty  and  cumulative  the  moral  and  spiritual 
forces  exhibited  in  our  day !  Never  before  was  the 
moral  consciousness  of  the  Churches  so  quickened, 
or  their  exertions,  at  home  and  abroad,  so  amazing, 
or  so  fruitful.  Islands  have  been  born  as  in  a  day. 
New  nations  have  come  suddenly  to  the  light,  em- 
braced the  faith,  maintained  their  own  preachers, 
builded  their  own  churches,  and  furnished  martyrs 
for  Christ.  In  a  single  year,  one  missionary  society 
received  eighteen  thousand  seekers  after  the  truth ; 
another  baptized  nine  thousand  converts,  six  thou- 
sand in  one  day;  and  another  received  six  thousand 
to  membership.  A  hundred  thousand  pariahs  are 
numbered  among  the  followers  of  Christ.  A  hundred 
thousand  Fiji  savages  worship  in  Ciiristian  temples. 
Twelve  hundred  thousand  spiritual  converts  praise 
God  in  mission  churches.  Six  hundred  thousand  pu- 
pils study  the  divine  word  in  mission  schools.  Polyg- 
amy, the  suttee,  and  widow  celibacy,  are  doomed  all 
over  Hindustan.  Schools  and  colleges  are  rising ; 
and  scores  of  presses  are  printing  millions  of  pages 

*"  Unitnrian  Review,"  May,  1876,  pp.  466-7. 


448       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

a  year  in  the  heathen  world.  Christian  civiUzation 
has  permeated  heathen  society,  and  called  forth 
apostles  of  truth  out  of  the  bosom  of  paganism  ; 
and  the  Church  of  Christ  has  seized  the  strongholds 
of  the  enemy,  and  established  a  base  line  of  opera 
tions  throughout  the  heathen  world.  Forward,  is 
the  motto,  all  along  the  vast  lines  of  Christ's  mili- 
tant host.  It  is  an  era  of  sublime  progress,  answer- 
ing the  long-repeated  prayer,  "  Thy  kingdom  come." 
A  century  and  a  half  ago  the  outlook  for  Chris- 
tianity was  dreary  enough.  The  science,  the  phi- 
losophy, the  culture  of  the  age,  were  all  against  it ; 
little  spirituality,  only  as  a  feeble  dying  flame,  was 
left ;  and  its  aggressive  power  was  reduced  to  a 
minimum.  Since  then,  it  has  reached  its  greatest 
known  maximum.  We  have  seen,  that  from  the 
days  of  the  Apostles  down  to  near  the  middle  of 
the  last  century,  if  we  except  some  remarkable  ex- 
amples among  the  Moravians,  the  world  has  known 
nothing  of  such  spiritual  activities  as  have  been 
since  developed,  chiefly  within  the  last  ninety  years, 
and  most  of  them  within  forty  years.  Piety  has 
come  out  from  the  cloisters  and  gone  forth  among 
the  masses,  in  imitation  of  "  Him  who  went  about 
doing  good."  Never  was  the  life  of  Jesus  more 
fully  illustrated,  in  the  average  lives  of  Christians, 
than  in  the  United  States,  during  the  last  quarter 
of  a  century.  Never  was  there  a  more  intelligent 
spirituality. 


Spiritual  Vitality.  449 

The  habit  of  some  minds  of  investing  every  thing 
in  the  past  with  a  halo  of  glory,  is  inconsiderate  and 
superficial.  No  judicial  mind  will  do  this.  Previous 
ages  do  not  furnish  parallels  of  what  this  age  has 
witnessed.  What  then  is  the  significance  of  such 
extraordinary  and  augmenting  religious  activity,  if 
it  be  not  a  deep  and  deepening  religious  vitality? 
Such  tangible  evidences  of  extraordinary  spiritual 
vitality,  and  the  wonderful  increase  of  more  than 
nine  and  a  half  millions  of  communicants,  in  eighty 
years,  in  the  evangelical  Churches  in  the  United 
States,  far  outrunning  relatively  the  growth  of  the 
population,  are  two  cognate  facts,  mutually  supple- 
menting each  other,  as  irrefragable  crucial  tests. 
Such  remarkable  religious  phenomena  must  have 
for  their  cause  a  powerful  underlying  religious  force. 
No  other  inference  is  philosophical. 

Christ  reigning  over  a  territory  hitherto  unrivaled 
in  its  extent;  great  benevolences  awakened  and  sus- 
tained by  a  deeper  religious  devotion  ;  rapidly  mul- 
tiplying home,  city,  and  foreign  mission  stations, 
the  outcome  of  an  intelligent  consecration  ;  magnifi- 
cent departments  of  Christian  labor,  many  of  them 
heretofore  unknown,  and  none  of  them  ever  before  so 
numerous,  so  vast,  or  so  restlessly  active  ;  the  great 
heart  of  the  Church,  pulsating  with  an  unequaled 
velocity;  the  fires  of  evangelism  burning  with  un- 
wonted brightness  on  multiplied  altars ;  and  a  re- 
ligious literature  such  as  has  characterized  no  other 


450      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

age,  replete  with  life  and  power,  eminently  prac- 
tical, intensely  fervid,  and  richly  evangelical,  ema- 
nating from  her  presses :  all  conspire  to  show,  more 
than  ever  before,  that  God  has  a  living  Church 
within  the  Churches,  towering  amid  them  all  in  its 
mightiness,  the  strength,  the  support,  and  central 
life  of  all ;  and  that  an  increasing  number  of  true 
believers  are  "  walking  with  him  in  white" — a  grand 
constellation  of  light  and  purity — a  bright  Milky 
Way  from  earth  to  heaven. 

For  what,  under  Providence,  have  these  wonder- 
ful spiritual  appliances  been  developed,  if  it  be  not 
as  a  preparation  for  the  cultivation  of  the  vast  home 
fields  which  have  recently  been  opening  for  us.  In 
the  Census  for  1890,  eleven  States  and  Territories  are 
classified  as  "The  Western  Division,"  viz.:  Wyom- 
ing, Montana,  Utah,  Idaho,  Washington,  Oregon, 
California,  Nevada,  Colorado,  Arizona,  and  New 
Mexico,  with  an  area  equal  to  forty  per  cent,  of  the 
total  area  of  the  United  States  excepting  Alaska, 
nineteen  times  as  large  as  New  England.  In  1850 
they  had  a  population  of  only  178,818;  in  1870, 
only  981,510;  but  in  1890,  3,027,613,  an  increase  of 
209  per  cent,  since  1870.  What  a  field  to  cultivate  ! 
It  will  test  our  real  spiritual  vitality  and  power. 

This  area  is  unequaled  in  natural  resources  by 
any  other  portion  of  this  country,  abounding  in 
stores  of  mineral  wealth  to  attract  both  enterprising 
settlers  and    dissolute   adventurers.      And   besides, 


Spiritual  Vitality.  451 

"those  majestic  mountains  arc  God's  provision  for 
watering  the  valleys  and  the  plains.  They  trend 
across  the  path  of  the  prevailing  winds  that  come 
cloud-laden  from  the  western  ocean.  The  high 
peaks  catch  the  clouds,  wring  them  dry,  and  treasure 
their  waters  in  their  deep  gorges  for  distribution 
in  the  valleys  below."  A  denser  population  will 
soon  occupy  those  vast  regions,  beset  with  unusual 
temptations  to  worldliness  and  greed,  and  calling 
for  Christian  laborers  of  deep  spirituality,  stanch 
fortitude,  and  vigorous  enterprise. 

We  should  not  lose  sight  of  the  ever-present 
fact  that  the  conditions  under  which  the  United 
States  have  pursued  their  career,  have  been  grave 
and  solemn,  new  in  history,  and  largely  experi- 
mental. Never  were  the  elements  of  good  and  evil 
set  forth  against  each  other  in  a  grander  arena. 
Without  the  conserving  force  of  old  institutions, 
from  the  nature  of  the  case  the  conflict  must  be 
tremendous,  at  times  exciting  alarm,  but  ever  fore- 
casting the  development  of  the  race  to  those  higher 
conditions  toward  which  humanity  here  is  surely  ad- 
vancing. 

Rev.  Bishop  E.  G.Andrews,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  clearly 
and  effectively  portrayed  *  the  situation. 

We  are  in  the  fierce  heat  of  a  great  conflict.  The  forces  of 
evil  multiply  among  us.      The  vast  increase  of  our  population  ; 

*  Address  before  the  Wesleyan  Melliodist  Conference  in  England, 
August,  1894. 


452      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

the  nature  of  much  of  our  immigration,  ignorant,  thriftless,  and 
unable  by  its  training  to  use  or  appreciate  freedom  ;  the  rapid 
growth  of  our  urban  life  beyond  our  power  to  overtake  it  with 
Gospel  appliances  ;  illiteracy  at  the  South  very  slowly  diminish- 
ing ;  colossal  fortunes  rapidly  accumulated  and  ostentatiously 
displayed,  while  the  condition  of  the  poor  though  not  deterio- 
rated, is  very  slowly  improved  ;  socialism  and  anarchy,  not  indeed 
indigenous,  but  now  naturalized  among  us ;  the  activity  of  the 
Roman  hierarchy,  perilous  to  our  liberty  and  our  religion,  and, 
perhaps  chief  of  all,  the  saloon  power,  organized,  diabolic,  de- 
termined, by  stimulating  the  drink  habit,  to  fatten  itself  though 
it  ruin  all  interests  and  aggravate  all  the  evils  under  which  a 
people  can  suffer.  These  are  some  of  the  portentous  forces 
that  confront  us  in  the  New  World. 

We  know  no  adequate  help  save  in  that  Gospel  which  our 
fathers  preached  to  us,  and  which  we  received.  We  need  noth- 
ing else.  Our  natural  resources  are  inexhaustible.  Our  insti- 
tutions are  well  ordered.  Our  military  power  forbids  fear. 
But  will  manhood  flourish  under  the  western  sky  ?  Will  the 
classes  live  in  amity  and  mutual  helpfulness  ?  Can  free 
governments  continue  to  repose  on  the  loyalty  and  intelligent 
love  of  freemen  without  the  compulsion  of  standing  armies,  the 
too  ready  instruments  of  ambition  ?  Will  a  supreme  sense  of 
justice  keep  peace  between  individuals,  and  between  remote 
sections  whose  interests  appear  to  be  in  conflict  ?  Will  this 
great  continent,  reserved  so  long  from  evils  of  oriental  and 
mediaeval  life,  prove  a  theater  for  the  upbuilding  of  redeemed 
men  for  the  "  land  that  is  very  far  off  ?  "  Shall  it  serve  the 
race  of  which  it  is  the  latest  heir? 

Such  questions  oppress  us.  They  drive  us  to  the  Lord  and 
Master  of  us  all.  They  make  us  review  the  possibilities  of  that 
Gospel  from  which  so  great  transformation  has  already  come 
to  individual  men  and  to  society.  They  pledge  us  to  make 
proof  of  the  infinite  reserve  of  power  that  is  in  the  Captain  of 
our  salvation. 


CHAPTER  III. 
CHRISTIANITY 

AN 

ITSrCRE^SINO    FORCE     IN    THE    T^^ORLr)'S 

CONSCIOTJSN-ESS    AND    LIEE. 

In  the  ^A/^orld's  Thought. 

In  Civil  Government  and  Administration. 
In  Higher  Education  and  Culture. 
In  Philanthropy  and  Reform. 
In  Morals. 

In  the  Physical  and  Social  Condition. 
In  Literature. 
In  Art. 
In  Song. 

In  Practical,  Social,  and  Institutional  Work. 
This  Elevation  not  the  Fruitage  of  Civilization,  but  of 
Christianity. 


Spiritual  Vitality.  455 


CHAPTER   III. 

CHRISTIANITY     IN     THE    WORLD'S    CONSCIOUSNESS 
AND     LIFE. 

BEFORE  passing  to  the  more  demonstrative 
numerical  exhibits,  attention  is  invited  to 
some  direct  crucial  tests  of  religious  progress  in  the 
actual  life  of  the  race. 

It  cannot  be  regarded  as  a  bare  assumption,  that 
Christianity  is  steadily  and  surely  penetrating  the 
world's  consciousness,  shading  the  world  to  its  own 
likeness,  increasingly  controlling  its  great  working 
forces,  alleviating  its  woes,  and  more  than  ever  be- 
fore shaping  its  tendencies,  so  that  the  present  may 
be  fittingly  declared  as  the  most  Christian  of  all  the 
Christian  centuries.  To  say  that  Christianity  is  an 
expended  force  belies  the  most  patent  facts. 

In   the    Worlifs    Thought. 

Have  we  ever  asked  ourselves,  whence  came  the 
idea  of  progress  ;  and  whether  the  very  idea  and 
impulse  of  human  progress  are  not  distinctive  gifts 
of  Christianity  ;  and  whether  the  world  was  ever  be- 
fore so  fully  possessed  with  this  idea,  or  so  power- 
fully affected  by  it  ?     How  clearly  does  it  appear  in 


45^      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

all  history,  that  Christianity  introduced  into  human- 
ity this  spiritual,  redemptive  energy  and  stimulated 
activity  toward  its  renovation,  making  it  the  grand 
end  toward  which  men  intelligently  consecrate 
their  powers.  The  expectation  of  progress,  thus 
awakened  and  sustained,  largely  determines  the 
best  advances  of  society  toward  the  achievement 
of  its  highest  ideals. 

Neither  in  literature  nor  in  civilization,  outside  of 
the  influence  of  Christianity,  has  this  expectation  of 
human  progress  ever  appeared.  The  growth  of 
pagan  nations  has  been  mainly  enlargement  by  the 
power  of  the  sword.     Professor  Maine  said  : 

The  stationary  condition  of  the  human  race  is  the  rule,  the 
progressive  the  exception.  ...  It  is  most  difficult  for  a  citizen 
of  Western  Europe  to  bring  home  thoroughly  to  himself  the 
truth  that  the  civilization  which  surrounds  him  is  a  rare  excep- 
tion in  the  history  of  the  world.  .  .  .  The  greatest  part  of 
mankind  has  never  shown  a  particle  of  desire  that  its  civil 
institutions  should  be  improved  since  the  moment  when  ex- 
ternal completeness  was  first  given  to  them,  by  their  embodi- 
ment in  some  permanent  record.  .  .  .  Instead  of  civilization 
expanding  the  law,  the  law  has  limited  the  civilization.  .  .  . 
In  progressive  nations,  social  necessities  and  social  opinion  are 
always  more  or  less  in  advance  of  the  law. 

Eighteen  hundred  years  ago  the  Bible  was  com- 
pleted;  and  who  will  say  it  has  ever  limited  human 
progress,  or  that  human  necessities  and  ideas  have 
ever  been  in  advance  of  it?  Or  rather,  shall  we 
not  say  with  Dr.  Harris  : 


Spiritual  Vitality.  457 

Unlike  all  other  codes  and  records,  this  book  is  evermore 
the  stimulus,  the  law,  and  the  ideal  of  a  higher  life  for  the  in- 
dividual, and  of  a  purer  and  better  civilization  for  society.-* 

What  a  mighty  working  force  is  this  idea  and  ex- 
pectation of  progress,  thus  infused  into  the  world's 
thought,  under  which  Christian  nations  alone  have 
become  the  progressive  nations,  while  all  beyond  this 
influence  are  stagnant  and  unexpectant. 

There  is  more  of  Christianity  in  Christian  theology 
than  ever  before.  Early  Christianity  was  corrupted 
by  Judaism  and  pagan  philosophy  ;  then,  perverted 
by  Roman  Catholic  scholasticism  ;  then,  by  Protest- 
ant scholasticism  and  dogmatism.  The  iron  logic 
of  the  reformers  followed  too  closely  in  the  dialec- 
tical lines  of  the  schoolmen,  perverting  by  human 
subtleties  the  truths  which  the  Great  Teacher  and 
his  apostles  had  presented  in  simpler  forms.  Dur- 
ing this  century,  more  than  ever  before,  these  en- 
cumbrances have  been  thrown  off,  and  the  truth  is 
approximating  its  original  simplicity. 

Never  before  was  Christianity  so  widely  accepted 
and  held  in  intelligent  moral  convictions.  For  long 
ages  it  was  nominally  accepted,  under  the  dominat- 
ing influence  of  a  civil  authority  which  tolerated 
no  questioning.  Now  in  almost  all  civilized  coun- 
tries belief  is  a  matter  of  personal  choice,  based  on 
intelligent  conviction,  which  signifies  that  Christian- 
ity is  directly  identified  with  the  consciousness  and 
thought  of  men. 


458      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Never  before  were  the  people  expected  to  have 
opinions,  nor  could  they  be  trusted  to  form  opin- 
ions ;  but  now  the  common  soil  of  humanity  has 
been  so  thoroughly  plowed,  enriched,  and  culti- 
vated, that  great  and  sacred  questions  are  safely 
brought  into  the  arena  of  public  investigation. 
What  an  advance  in  intelligence  and  in  morally 
conserving  power  is  implied  in  all  this. 

Christianity  was  never  before  so  well  understood 
as  in  the  present  century.  Under  these  clearer  views 
many  perversions  and  travesties  of  our  holy  religion 
are  disappearing,  and  the  world  is  not  likely  to  be 
far  misled  or  easily  deceived. 

Christianity  is  now  widely  diffused  in  the  thinking 
of  the  world,  in  its  philosophy,  its  history,  its  poetry, 
its  science,  its  statesmanship,  its  art,  its  legislation, 
and  its  literature.  Now  the  world  does  its  thinking 
largely  from  Christian  stand-points,  on  a  Christian 
basis,  and  in  a  Christian  phraseology. 

Consider,  too,  the  ideals  of  life,  as  compared  with 
former  periods.  The  most  potent  forces  of  the  mod- 
ern world,  under  the  all-pervasive  influence  of  Chris- 
tianity, are  not  law,  nor  police,  nor  institutions,  nor 
even  armies,  but  latent  and  ideal  elements,  thought 
out,  digested,  and  self-incorporated,  so  as  to  become 
the  determining  powers  of  life.  Men,  thus  possessed, 
are  a  law  unto  themselves — actuated  by  laws  gen- 
erated in  souls  enriched  with  the  best  spiritual  and 
moral  fertilizers  of  the  kingdom  of  God.     Thus  are 


Spiritual  Vitality.  459 

we  having  illustrated  the  working  of  the  leaven  of 
the  divine  kingdom.  Ideals  thus  begotten  are  the 
potencies  of  life,  the  engines  which  draw  men  into 
higiier  planes  and  society  into  higher  stages.  The 
family  feels  their  influence  ;  the  schools  submit  to 
their  silent  tutelage  ;  legislation  is  molded  by  them  ; 
the  Church  takes  them  into  her  sacred  service ; 
and  by  them  humanity  is  purified,  illumined,  and 
hallowed. 

In  the  last  ccnturj'  faith  has  vastly  increased  in 
quantity  and  improved  in  quality.  It  is  not  so 
superstitious,  is  more  intelligent,  and  its  dominion 
is  broader  and  stronger.  The  eighteentii  century 
was  distinctively  a  skeptical  era.  The  unbelief 
generated  by  misconceptions  of  physical  science, 
etc.,  has  been  slight  compared  with  that  of  the  last 
century.  Forms  of  dogmatic  faith  have  been  so 
modified  that  faith  has  been  helped.  Never  before 
was  there  so  much  faith,  such  mighty  faith,  such  in- 
telligent faith.  The  faith  achievements  of  Rev. 
Williani  Taylor  in  India,  Australia,  South  America, 
and  Africa  fully  rival  those  of  St.  Paul  ;  and  those 
of  INIoody,  Muller,  etc.,  stand  conspicuous  in  Chris- 
tian history.  The  average  faith  of  Christendom  has 
incalculably  advanced. 

In  the  true  sense  of  the  term  this  is  not  so  much 
an  age  of  doubt  as  of  transition. 

Old  forms  are  changing,  but  old  faiths  are  not  dead  nor  dy- 
ing.    There  are  manifestations  of  unrest.     Here  and   there  a 


460      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

religious  teacher  goes  adrift,  and  sometimes  a  church  follows 
him.  But  the  vital  truths  of  Christianity  still  afford  a  sure  and 
steady  anchorage  for  intelligent  believers. 

In  Civil  Government  and  Administration. 
In  the  year  1500  the  populations  undernominally 
Christian  governments  were  estimated  at  100,000,- 
000;  in  1890,  at  890,000,000,  over  half  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  globe.  In  these  almost  four  centuries  a 
much  greater  change  has  come  from  a  nominally 
Christian  toward  an  actual  Christian  character  in 
these  great  ruling  States.  How  much  more  rational 
and  elevating  are  the  conditions  of  civil  government. 
The  world  is  transferring  its  political  homage  from 
traditions  to  principles,  from  absolutism  to  freedom, 
from  royal  and  baronial  lines  to  rights  and  duties, 
from  compromises  with  ancient  usurpation,  inequal- 
ity, and  wrong  to  affirmations  of  equality  and  justice. 
A  writer  in  the  "Nineteenth  Century^'  recently 
said  : 

Sixty  years  ago  Europe  was  an  aggregate  of  despotic  powers 
disposing,  at  their  pleasure,  of  the  lives  and  property  of  their 
subjects,  maintaining  by  systematic  neglect  the  convenient  ig- 
norance which  rendered  misgovernment  easy  and  safe.  Within 
a  few  years  one  hundred  and  eighty  millions  of  Europeans  have 
risen  from  a  degraded  and  dissatisfied  vassalage  to  the  ranks 
oifree,  self-governing  men,  and  one  of  their  earliest  concerns 
has  been  to  provide  the  means  of  unixersal  education. 

The  era  of  absolutism  has  nearly  passed  in  civil- 
ized nations.  It  has  but  a  feeble  hold  on  any  people, 
and   it  must  soon  wholly  disappear.     We  have  not 


Spiritual  Vitality.  461 

to  go  far  back  to  find  it  almost  everywhere.  Con- 
stitutional governments,  with  certain  functions 
guaranteed  to  the/^v/Zr,  are  multiplying.  Absolute 
monarchies  are  disappearing,  and  limited  monarch- 
ies, more  and  more  limited  and  dependent  upon 
the  people,  and  republics  are  taking  their  place. 
The  irreversible  drift  of  the  world  is  in  the  direction 
of  "  governments  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and 
for  the  people.' '  France  has  had  painful  experiences 
in  her  struggles  toward  this  ideal.  After  repeated 
failures  she  seems  likely  to  succeed. 

What  does  this  tendency  indicate  ?  The  answer 
is  ready  and  full  of  inspiring  significance.  Human- 
ity is  developing  and  maturing.  It  is  becoming 
capable  of  self-direction  and  self-control.  The  race 
is  increasingly  conscious  of  IDEAS  diffused  abroad  in 
the  popular  heart ;  that  it  possesses  capabilities  of 
self-government  ;  that  these  things  are  sacred  trusts, 
to  be  claimed,  held,  and  exercised  in  the  interests 
of  humanity.  This  feeling  is  pervasive.  .  Every- 
where in  Christendom  it  is  expanding,  depressing, 
asserting  itself,  and  coming  into  concrete  forms  in 
legislation  and  in  government. 

Freedom  of  opinion,  now  well-nigh  universal  in 
Christian  countries,  is  evidence  of  the  prevalence  of 
the  kind  and  tolerant  spirit  of  Christianity  among 
the  nations  and  in  the  churches.  Church  discipline 
for  heresy  is  not  now  for  the  purpose  of  enforcing 
belief,  as  it  once  was,  but  for  the   purpose  of  vindi- 


462       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

eating  compacts  which  men  have  voluntarily  made, 
and  should  voluntarily  surrender  when  no  longer 
willing  to  keep  them. 

What  an  evidence  this  of  the  higher  life  of  the 
race  than  was  seen  under  the  old  regime  of  absolu- 
tism. What  an  advance  toward  manhood.  What 
development  of  the  best  and  noblest  elements. 

Personal  liberty  has  incalculably  advanced.  The 
magna  charta  and  habeas  corpus  have  been  great 
factors  and  bulwarks  of  this  progress.  "  Liberty  is 
the  creature  of  law,"  says  Hon,  D.  Webster  :  * 

It  is  a  legal  and  refined  idea,  the  offspring  of  high  civiliza- 
tion, which  the  savage  never  understood  and  never  can  under- 
stand. Liberty  exists  in  proportion  to  wholesome  restraint; 
the  more  restraint  on  others  to  keep  off  from  us,  the  more 
liberty  we  have.  It  is  an  error  to  suppose  that  liberty  consists 
in  a  paucity  of  laws.  If  one  wants  few  laws,  let  him  go  to 
Turkey.  The  Turks  enjoy  that  blessing.  The  working  of  our 
complex  system,  full  of  checks  and  restraints  on  legislative, 
executive,  and  judicial  power,  is  favorable  to  liberty  and  justice. 
Those  checks  and  restraints  are  so  many  safeguards  set 
around  individual  rights  and  interests.  That  man  is  free  who 
is  protected  from  injury. 

It  would  be  an  interesting  task  to  trace  in  detail 
the  evidences  of  the  increasing  presence  of  Chris- 
tianity in  constitutional  law,  in  international  law,  in 
statutory  legislation,  in  the  administration  of  oaths, 
in  legislative,  army,  and  navy  chaplaincies,  in  public 
fasts  and  thanksgivings. 

*  "  Works,"  ii,  p.  393. 


Spiritual  Vitality.  463 

What  an  exhibition  of  Christian  sentiment  in  the 
hearts  of  the  American  people  was  witnessed  on  the 
assassination  of  President  Garfield.  There  was  at 
once  an  almost  universal  impulse  to  turn  to  God 
for  guidance  and  help.  Theories  of  prayer  were  no 
longer  discussed,  but  men  prayed  ;  and  thousands 
unused  to  devotion  turned  aside  from  their  business 
at  midday  to  mingle  their  prayers  with  other  thou- 
sands for  the  recovery  of  the  stricken  President.  The 
feeling  of  devotion  thus  enkindled  was  strong  enough 
to  endure  the  shock  of  disappointment,  and  was  not 
destroyed  or  impaired  when,  in  the  sequel,  the  na- 
tion's request  was  not  granted. 

This  sad  event,  which  deprived  the  United  States 
of  President  Garfield,  called  forth  in  the  highest 
circles  of  civil  authority  expressions  of  religious 
faith  and  recognitions  of  the  truths  of  our  holy  re- 
ligion such  as  had  never,  or  almost  never,  before 
been  witnessed.  Such  allusions  in  public  docu- 
ments have  usually  been  very  guarded  and  of  the 
most  meager  character.  It  was  refreshing  to  see 
such  distinct  recognitions  of  Almighty  God,  and  of 
dependence  upon  him  for  guidance  and  consolation, 
as  were  uttered  by  Queen  Victoria  and  President 
Arthur.  What  a  beautiful,  devout  Christian  message 
was  that  of  Queen  Victoria  to  Mrs.  Garfield  : 

Words  cannot  express  the  deep  sympathy  I  feel  with  you. 
May  God  support  and  comfort  you  as  he  alone  can. 

The  words  of  President  Arthur  in  his  inaugural 


464      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

are  worthy  of  remembrance,  and  inspired  confidence 
in  his  high  character : 

Summoned  to  these  high  duties  and  responsibilities,  and  pro- 
foundly conscious  of  their  magnitude  and  gravity,  I  assume  the 
trust  imposed  by  the  Constitution,  relying  for  aid  on  divine 
guidance  and  the  virtue,  patriotism,  and  intelligence  of  the 
American  people. 

President  Arthur's  proclamation  contained  even 
more.  It  recognized  God  as  the  God  of  providence, 
who  "  in  his  inscrutable  wisdom  has  been  pleased  to 
remove  from  us  the  illustrious  head  of  the  nation." 
It  recognizes  the  throne  of  God  as  "  the  throne  of 
infinite  grace,"  to  which  in  our  calamity  we  should 
come.     He  said : 

That  we  should  bow  before  the  Almighty  and  seek  from  him 
that  consolation  in  our  affliction  and  that  sanctification  of  our 
loss  which  he  is  able  and  willing  to  vouchsafe. 

Again,  he  recommended  that : 

All  the  people  assemble  in  their  respective  places  of  divine 
worship,  there  to  render  alike  their  tribute  of  sorrowful  sub- 
mission to  the  will  of  Almighty  God,  and  of  reverence  and  love 
for  the  memory  and  character  of  our  late  chief  magistrate. 

Such  expressions  of  the  great  truths  of  Christian- 
ity by  the  two  greatest  rulers  in  the  world  are  of  in- 
calculable value  to  the  race. 

In  Higher  Education  and  Culture. 

Protestant  Christianity  is  increasingly  identified 
with  the  most  advanced  education  and  the  best  cult- 


Spiritual  Vitality.  465 

ure  of  the  age.  These  fragrant  blossoms  of  our 
best  civilization  are  chiefly  products,  directly  or  in- 
directly, of  influences  which  Protestantism  has  ex- 
erted and  fostered.  Most  of  the  colleges  of  the 
United  States  have  been  founded  and  conducted  by 
Christian  men,  (see  pp.  703-4.)  How  have  libraries 
multiplied.  What  a  mighty  work  has  been  per- 
formed, too,  by  the  religious  publication  houses  of 
the  United  States,  (see  p.  707.)  By  such  means  is 
Christianity  becoming  identified  with  the  intellect- 
ual life  of  the  age.  Furthermore,  a  process  of  edu- 
cation is  going  on  under  the  tutelage  of  machinery. 
A  thousand  skilled  trades,  by  numberless  intricate 
processes,  develop  an  incalculable  amount  of 
thought  and  experience. 

Spindles  and  hammers  and  files  think  now  as  well  as  bayo- 
nets ;  and  the  girl  who  stands  looking  on  to  see  the  piston  or 
the  turbine  manipulate  her  shuttles  in  half  a  dozen  looms,  is  in 
a  school  of  philosophy,  and  so  is  her  brother  at  the  lathe.  But 
heathenism  follows  the  same  old  treadmill  of  three  thousand 
years  ago,  without  a  discovery  or  an  invention. 

A  religion  that  fails  to  identify  itself  with  intelli- 
gence, science,  and  the  best  progress  of  the  age  can 
have  no  hold  upon  the  future.  It  is  the  mission  of 
Christianity  to  enlighten.  It  has  been  freely  asserted 
of  late  that  the  Churches,  especially  the  evangelical 
Churches,  are  perceptibly  losing  their  hold  upon  the 
intellect  and  scholarship  of  the  age  ;  that  few  young 
men  in  the  colleges  arc  Christians  in  the  usual  ac- 


466      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


ceptation  of  the  term  ;  that  denominational  colleges 
are  relatively  declining,  and  that  they  are  destined 
to  be  superseded  by  State  universities  and  other 
large  institutions  founded  by  individual  munificence. 
What  are  the  facts  ? 

Colleges  in  the  United  States  in  1830. 


Denominations. 


s8 


Congregational 

Presbyterian 

Baptist 

Protestant 

Reformed  (Dutch  and  German). 

Methodist  Episcopal* 

Unitarian 

Roman  Catholic 


Total  denominational 
Non-denominational. . 


15 

6 


35 
14 


53 
39 
16 

34 
16 
12 
20 


190 

85 


1,047 

517 
196 
203 
287 
172 
247 


2,669 
913 


Aggregate 21 


28 


49 


275 


3,582 


Here  are  49  colleges  in  1830,  with  275  professors 
and  3,582  students.  From  1800  to  1830  the  col- 
leges increased  28,  of  which  number  20  were  de- 
nominational and  8  undenominational.  In  1800  the 
denominational  colleges  were  71.5  per  cent,  of  the 
whole;  in  1830,  71.5  per  cent,  of  the  whole,  and  at 
the  latter  date  these  denominational  colleges  had 
74.6  per  cent,  of  all  students  in  colleges. 

*  These  two  colleges,  under  Revs.  H.  B.  Bascom  and  Dr.  Martin 
Ruter,  did  not  become  prominent  Methodist  colleges.  The  Wes- 
leyan  University,  founded  at  Middlctown,  Conn.,  in  1S31,  was  the 
first  permanent  Methodist  college. 


Spiritual  Vitality.  467 

For  the  data  concerning  the  colleges  in  1884,^ 
the  latest  available,  we  are  indebted  to  the  very  able 
reports  of  General  Eaton.f  Commissioner  of  Educa- 
tion at  Washington,  D.  C.  Collating  from  his  re- 
port, we  have  a  satisfactory  basis  for  a  comparison 
with  the  year  1830 — a  sufficiently  long  interval  to 
indicate  quite  clearly  the  educational  tendency  of 
the  century. 

Changing  the  phraseology  for  the  reasons  indi- 
cated below,  and  using  the  terms  denominational 
and  undenominational,  we  have  on  the  one  hand  the 

*  The  author  regrets  that  in  the  later  re'ports  the  data  necessary 
for  similar  comparisons  for  1890  are  omitted. 

f  In  using  General  Eaton's  reports  we  have  discarded  the  terms 
"  sectarian  "  and  "  non-sectarian  "  sometimes  used,  because  not  ex- 
pressing what  they  are  intended  to  express,  and  consequently  put- 
ting most  of  the  colleges  in  a  false  light.  It  is  well  known  that  no 
ecclesiastical  tests  in  either  admitting,  disciplining,  advancing,  or 
graduating  students  are  used  by  any  of  the  colleges,  unless  it  be  in 
some  of  the  Roman  Catholic  colleges.  In  all  the  colleges  of  the 
Protestant  Churches  no  questions  are  asked  in  regard  to  religious  be- 
lief, and  students  are  at  liberty  to  select  the  place  of  worship  which 
accords  with  their  denominational  predilections  just  as  freely  as  in 
purely  State  colleges.  Harvard  College,  reported  as  "  non-sectarian," 
is  no  more  so  than  over  two  hundred  others  reported  as  sustaining 
denominational  relations  ;  for  Harvard,  during  more  than  half  a  cen- 
tury, has  been  under  the  direction  of  a  "  Board  of  Fellows  "  all  of 
whom  have  been  Unitarians  except  one  elected  within  a  few  years; 
and,  besides,  the  Theological  School  of  Harvard  College  is  usually 
mentioned  in  the  Unitarian  "  Year- Book"  as  a  Unitarian  institution. 
Yale,  Columbia,  Williams,  and  many  other  colleges  also  reported  by 
General  Eaton  as  "  non-sectarian  "  recently  were  reported  as  Con- 
gregational, Episcopal,  etc.  But  there  has  been  no  severance  in  their 
denominational  relations. 


468      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

colleges  of  the  Churches,  comprising  those  closely 
related  to  the  Churches  in  origin,  sympathy,  and 
patronage,  some  of  which  are  organically  held  by 
ecclesiastical  bodies  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  those 
which  sustain  no  denominational  relations.  This 
classification  fully  and  fairly  covers  the  question 
What  are  the  churches  doing  for  collegiate  educa- 
tion, and  how  far  are  they  identified  with  advanced 
intellectual  culture?  In  carrying  out  this  classifica- 
tion the  advantage  of  any  doubt  in  regard  to  insti- 
tutions not  fully  known  is  given  to  the  undenomi- 
national list. 

Of  the  61  colleges  classified  in  the  following  table 
as  undenominational,  23  are  State  institutions,  some 
of  them  founded  before  the  disruption  of  the 
union  between  the  Church  and  State  ;  4,  city  insti- 
tutions;  3,  military  ;  2,  agricultural ;  i,  deaf  mute; 
and  the  remainder  are  not  clearly  indicated  as  to 
their  character.  Nearly  half  of  the  latter  are  under 
the  presidency  of  evangelical  divines.  Eight  of  the 
State  and  city  institutions  have  clergymen  for  pres- 
idents, and  many  of  the  professors  and  students 
are  active  evangelical  communicants.  General 
Eaton's  report  for  1883-84  gives  370  colleges  and 
universities.  In  1870  he  gave  a  large  number;  but 
he  has  probably  since  that  time  found  that  some  of 
them  should  be  classified  in  a  different  table.  With 
'  the  aid  of  the  Year-Books  of  the  denominations  we 
have   carefully  examined  the  list,  and  assigned  to 


ID  I  ji^  G- 22. -A.  2vl 

Denominational 

AND 

Undenominational  Students 
in  course  for  a.b. 


Spiritual  Vitality. 


471 


the  Churches  those  marked  "  unsectarian  "  which 
are  properly  denominational  in  their  origin,  affilia- 
tion, patronage,  etc.  We  give  the  following  care- 
fully classified  table : 

Colleges  and  Universities  in  the  United  States — 1884. 


Denominational  Relations. 


Number  of 
Colleges. 


Students  in 
Number  of    the  Collegiate 
Professors.        Course  for 
A.B. 


Baptist  (all  kinds) 

Congregational 

Christian  and  Disciple* 

Episcopal 

Evangelical  Association 

Friend 

Hebrew 

Lutheran 

Methodist  (all  kinds) 

Mormon 

Presbyterian  (all  kinds) 

Reformed  (German  and  Dutch). 

Seventh-day  Advent 

Swedenborgian 

United  Brethren 

Unitarian 

Universalist 

Total  non-Roman  Catholic 
Roman  Catholic 

Total  denominational 

Undenominational 

Aggregate 


45 
26 

17 
II 

2 

5 
I 

14 

63 

I 

46 

7 
I 
I 

7 
I 

4 


252 

57 


309 
61 


332 
317 
140 

99 
14 

46 

7 
102 

534 

39 
7 
I 

4 
39 
58 
41 


2,215 


2,215 

782 


370 


2,997 


3,728 

3,108 

1,326 

807 

137 

331 

II 

860 

4,938 

4,060 
449 

13 

238 

1,040 

260 


21,301 
4,647 


25,948 
6,819 


t32,767 


*  The  practice  of  the  Disciples  in  taking  to  themselves  the  desig- 
nation "  Christians,"  which  for  three  quarters  of  a  century  has  been 
held  by  another  religious  denomination,  so  confuses  the  statistics 
that  it  is  necessary  to  combine  the  two  bodies. 

f  When  General  Eaton  gives  65,522  students  in  the  colleges  he 
comprises  those  in  the  preparatory  as  well  as  the  collegiate  depart- 
ments. 


472      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Comparison  of  1830  with  1884, 


Colleges. 

Students. 

1830. 

1884. 

1830. 

1884. 

Denominational 

Undenominational 

35 
14 

309 
61 

2,669 
913 

25,948 
6,819 

Total 

49 

370 

3,582 

32,767 

Increase  from  1830  to  1884. 

Population 335  per  cent. 

Denominational  Colleges 783    "       " 

Undenominational  Colleges 335    "       " 

Denominational  Students 872    "       " 

Undenominational  Students 653    "       " 

In  1830  the  denominational  colleges  were  71.5 
per  cent,  of  the  whole;  in  1884  they  were  83.5  per 
cent.  In  1830  the  students  in  the  denominational 
colleges  were  74.6  per  cent,  of  the  whole;  in  1884 
they  were  79.2  per  cent. 

Of  the  students  in  denominational  colleges, 


The  Baptists  had 7 


Congregationalists 38.8    "       " 

Episcopalians 7.6    "       " 

Methodists 6.4*"       " 

Presbyterians 19 -3    "       " 

Roman  Catholics None  reported. f 

Non-Evangelical  Churches.     9.2  per  cent. 

Evangelical  Churches 90.8    "       " 


3  per  cent. 


14.3  per  cent. 
II. 9 

3-1 
19.0 

15-6 
17.9 

5-1 
94.9 


The  Year-Books  of  some  of  the  religious  denomi- 
nations, within  a  few  years,  have  furnished  carefully 

*  See  "American  Quarterly  Register,"  May,  1831. 
f  Report  of  General  Eaton,  Commissioner  of  Education,  1883-84, 
p.  169. 


Spiritual  Vitality 


473 


prepared  tables  of  all  the  higher  educational  insti- 
tutions of  the  Churches,  including  theological  semi- 
naries, colleges,  and  universities,  female  colleges, 
classical  seminaries,  and  academies.  Many  denomi- 
nations give  no  such  information  in  any  tabulated 
form  ;  but  such  as  have  been  prepared  and  pub- 
lished we  give,  that  the  relation  of  the  Churches  to 
the  higher  education  may  be  more  fully  seen  and 
appreciated. 


Educational  Institutions  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  1893. 


r>d  Endow- 
Debts. 

Students  Last  Year. 

•0 

e 

8 

<«• 

•a 

^ 

« 

Pi 

m 

"•z 

c 

3 

0 

B 

s 

Class  of  Institution. 

§ 

-^^ 

V 

•a 

3 

en 

■a 

c 

■a 

3 

0 

tn 

0 

u 
u 

of  Prope 
s  exclusi 

•0 

c 
rt 

en 

"« 

c 
.0 

0 

V 

'Ei 

-d 

CO 

0 
H 

"o 
.2  n 

F 

§  c 

V 

•S 

"a 

0 

0 

_« 

■a 
c 

3 

"«  6 

H 

?. 

0 

c 

SS 

OJ 

'A 

> 

a. 

8^5 

H 

Ui 

t) 

0 

ri 

Theological  Institutions 

17 

$2,270,839 

71 

835 

$251,607 

Colleges  and  Universities 

57 

19,993,101 

i,4S» 

2,372 

S,422 

14,010 

S>4 

22,453 

384,285 

Classical  Seminaries. .  . . 

S2 

2,791,540 

431 

10,859 

10.859 

49,984 

leinale  Colls,  and  Sems.i     g 

1,472,500 

i8i 

64. 

s8o 

1,294 

374. '43 

Foreign  Mission  Schools 

Total 

Less  Schools  duplicated 

77 

766,050 

461 

6,236 

30,746 

212 

27,294,030 

2,582 

3.207 

6,063 

25.449 

514 

41.677 

1,090,766 

in  Theological  list 

Net  total 

»5 

1,010,839 

60 

628 

1,607 

197 

26,283,191 

2,522 

6,063 

25,449 

514 

41,049 

1,089,159 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 

Number  of  schools  and  colleges I7g 

Value  of  property  and  endowments  exclusive  of  debts. .  .  $4,485,042 

Number  of  professors  and  teachers 897 

Number  of  students 16  620 


474      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


Regular  Baptist  Institutions. 


Class  of  Institution. 

"o 
o 

o 
in 

o 

u 
u 

s 

3 

Value    of   Property 
and  Endowments 
exclusive  of  Debts. 

a 
0 

"    V 

2-g 

Pi  rt 
oH 

54 
604 
388 
369 
279 

c 

V 

•d 

3 

in 

■« 
0 

0  J 

3-a 
n  > 
>'v  C 
_  0  rt 
rt  u  u 

H 

Theological  Seminaries. . . . 
Universities  and  Colleges  . . 
Female  Seminaries 

7 
35 

32 

47 
31 

$3,401,618 

19,171,045 

4,121,906 

3.787.793 
1,380,540 

776 
9,088 
3,675 
5.250 

5.177 

$99,867 
2,303,662 

33.500 
151.752 

96.536 

Academies  and  Seminaries. 
For  Colored  and  Indians.  . . 

Total 

152 

31,862,902 

1,694 

23,966 

2,685,317 

These  tables  give  the  following  aggregates  for 
these  three  denominations,  leaving  out  a  multitude 
of  others : 

Higher  educational  institutions 528 

Number  of  professors 5, 113 

Number  of  students 81,635 

Amount  of  property  and  endowments $62,631,135 

Amount  of  gifts  received  during  the  year  1893.  3,773.468 

It  has  been  sometimes  asserted  that  the  influence 
of  evangelical  religion  upon  educated  young  men 
is  declining.  It  is  not  possible,  perhaps,  to  obtain 
exact  data  for  fully  testing  this  matter,  but  we  have 
a  class  of  statistics  which  go  far  to  settle  it.  The  num- 
ber of  students,  in  the  colleges  and  universities  of  the 
highest  grade,  who  are  "  professedly  religious,"  or 
members  of  evangelical  Churches,  is  certainly  one 
good  test.  These  we  have  m  a  tolerably  complete 
form,  covering  a  period  of  over  fifty  years. 


Spiritual  Vitality. 


475 


Perckntage  of  College  Students  Pious. 


Date  of  Statistics. 


.,      ,         ,!  Total  Number 
Number  of  1  of  Students  in 

Colleges    Colleges  Report- 
Reporting,  "i 


Number 
I'ious. 


Percentage  of 
Students  Pious. 


1830 

1855 
1865, 
187a 
1872 
1880 
1885 


28 
30 
38 
32 
12 

65 

no* 


2,633 
4-533 
7.351 
7,818 
1,891 
12,063 
15.344 


693 
1.727 
3.380 
2,162 

941 
6,051 
7,361 


26  per  cent. 

38 

46 

40 

50 

50 

48t 


The  opinion,  current  in  some  quarters,  that  the 
colleges  are  degenerating,  morally  and  religiously, 
and  that  skepticism  and  dissipation  are  setting  at 
naught  the  better  influences  of  other  days,  is  dis- 
proved by  the  foregoing  statistics,  and  by  many 
concrete  testimonies :{;  which  cannot  be  inserted  in 
these  limited  pages.  All  the  foregoing  facts  show 
the  strong  and  enduring  progress  of  Christianity  in 
the  United  States  ;  that  it  is  identified  with  the 
highest  educational  culture  of  the  age  ;  that  the 
denominational  institutions  are  incalculably  leading 
in  number  and  students  all  the  undenominational 
colleges,  and  that  the  great  principles  and  blessed 
experiences  of  Christianity  are  being  voluntarily  and 

*  In  this  list  are  9  State  colleges,  4  State  normal  schools,  2  agri- 
cultural and  mechanical  institutions,  i  polytechnic  department,  i 
medical  and  I  military  institute.  See  table  in  report  of  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
of  the  United  States,  1885. 

f  See  "American  Quarterly  Register,"  May,  1831. 

X  See  article  by  Rev.  C.  F.  Thwing,  D.D.,  in  "Sunday  Afternoon," 
September,  1878. 


4/6      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

intelligently  adopted  by  a  far  larger  proportion  of 
college  students  than  ever  before. 

In  PJiilanthropy  and  Reform. 

The  numberless  philanthropies  of  our  day,  for  the 
most  part  unknown  until  the  present  century,  in- 
dicate the  widely  extended  presence  in  the  world 
of  the  spirit  of  "  Him  who  went  about  doing  good." 

Mr.  Green*  says: 

A  yet  nobler  result  of  the  religious  revival  (the  Wesleyan) 
was  the  steady  attempt,  which  has  nei'er  ceased  from  that  day 
to  this,  to  remedy  the  guilt,  the  ignorance,  the  physical  suffer- 
ing, the  social  degradation  of  the  profligate  and  the  poor.  It 
was  not  until  the  Wesleyan  impulse  had  done  its  work  that  this 
philanthropic  impulse  began.  The  Sunday-schools  established 
by  Mr.  Raikes,  of  Gloucester,  at  the  close  of  the  century  were 
the  beginnings  of  popular  education.  By  writings  and  by  her 
own  personal  example,  Hannah  More  drew  the  sympathy  of 
England  to  the  poverty  and  cnme  of  the  agricultural  laborer. 
A  passionate  impulse  of  human  sympathy  with  the  wronged 
and  afflicted  raised  hospitals,  endowed  charities,  built  churches, 
sent  missionaries  to  the  heathen,  supported  Burke  in  his  plea 
for  the  Hindu,  and  Clarkson  and  Wilberforce  in  their  crusade 
against  the  iniquity  of  the  slave-trade. 

It  is  impossible  to  fully  set  forth  in  these  limits 
the  philanthropies  of  our  day.  We  can  only  classify 
them.  They  are  for  the  poor,  for  the  laboring 
classes,  for  the  sick,  for  children  ;  free  schools,  Sun- 
day-schools, homes,  and  asylums  ;  for  widows,  for 
fallen  women,  for  aged  women,   for  aged  men  ;  for 

*  "  History  of  the  English  People,"  iv,  273. 


Spiritual  Vitality.  477 

the  blind,  the  deaf  and  dumb,  the  insane,  the  idiotic  ; 
for  strangers,  for  the   impotent,   for  inebriates,   for 
the  degraded  and   outcast,  for  sailors,  for  Africans, 
for  prisoners,  for  the  protection  of  animals,  for  State 
charities,  for  hospitals,   for  city  evangelization,   for 
home   missions,   for   foreign   missions,  for  religious 
publications,  for  peace ;  Young  Men's  Christian  As- 
sociations,  and  Young  Women's  Christian  Associa- 
tions.    These   are   only  classes.     Their   number  is 
legion,   and   at    least  three  fourths,  probably  more 
than  that,  the   direct   outgrowth   of  Christian  prin- 
ciple and  love,  in  the   last   one  hundred  and   fifty 
years,  very  largely  within  eighty  years.     Within  this 
century  Christianity  has  achieved  more  for  humanity 
in  a  single  decade  than  in  long  centuries  before.  An 
English  poet  sang : 

"  Better  fifty  years  of  Europe 
Than  a  cycle  of  Cathay." 

The  sentiment  could  be  put  more  strongly  without 
violence  to  fact. 

Christian  philanthropy  has  penetrated  the  in- 
terior of  our  prisons  and  produced  beneficent 
changes.  It  has  lifted  the  prisoners  out  of  the 
damp  and  dreary  dungeons  in  which  they  were  once 
confined  into  high,  healthful,  and  magnificent  struct- 
ures, often  the  pride  of  the  city  and  the  state  ;  it 
has  broken  the  iron  fetters  in  which  they  were  once 
bound  and  tortured  ;   it  has  abolished  the  bastinado 


478      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

and  the  scourge;  it  has  stopped  the  herding  of 
criminals  in  close  corrupting  contact  in  the  same 
rooms  ;  it  has  furnished  them  with  wholesome  food, 
comfortable  beds  and  clothing,  medical  attention 
and  nursing,  secular  and  Sabbath  school  instruction, 
religious  services,  and  libraries.  Besides  these 
things,  the  number  of  offenses  punishable  by  death 
has  been  diminished ;  imprisonment  for  debt  has 
been  almost  wholly  abolished,  reformatories  and 
houses  of  industry  have  been  substituted  for  regular 
prisons  for  children  ;  the  corporal  punishment  of 
prisoners  has  been  mostly  abolished  ;  solitary  con- 
finement in  dungeons  is  limited  to  a  few  days ; 
prison  congresses  and  associations  have  been  organ- 
ized ;  and  this  amelioration  has  been  carried  to 
such  lengths  that  a  wise  conservatism  is  inquiring 
whether  Christian  tenderness  toward  these  social 
outlaws  is  not  degenerating  into  a  sickly  condition 
of  sentiment ;  whether  Christian  philanthropy  has 
not  decorated  and  softened  the  way  of  crime,  and 
enfeebled  the  energy  and  majesty  of  government  to 
the  detriment  of  the  welfare  of  society. 

Outside  of  Christianity  criminals  are  treated  as 
outlaws,  with  no  rights  or  claims,  not  even  to  any 
pkysica/ comfort.  Take  the  highest  type  of  pagan 
civilization.  In  China  criminals  are  incarcerated  in 
filthy,  loathsome  cells,  fittingly  called  "  hells,"  and 
left  without  the  slightest  provision,  except  such  as 
friends,  to  whom  they  appeal,  may  bring.     For  cer- 


Spiritual  Vitality.  479 

tain  crimes  they  are  punished  by  torture.  Wearing 
the  "  kang,"  a  plank  four  feet  square,  with  a  hole 
in  the  center,  fitted  and  locked  around  the  neck, 
being  a  common  method.  He  cannot  get  his  hands 
to  his  head  and  must  starve  unless  friends  feed  him. 
He  can  take  but  two  positions,  sitting  and  standing. 
In  from  ten  to  twenty  days  the  prisoner  is  broken 
down  beyond  recovery. 

The  increasing  presence  of  Christianity  in  the 
world's  consciousness  is  also  seen  in  the  great 
moral  and  reformatory  movements,  which  it  has 
generated  and  made  effectual.  In  no  previous 
century  were  such  gigantic  evils  assailed  and 
broken  as  in  this.  In  the  year  1800  human  slav- 
ery existed  all  over  the  world. 

In  the  year  1200,  about  the  beginning  of  the 
reign  of  John,  it  has  been  estimated  that  one  half 
of  the  Anglo-Saxons  were  in  a  condition  of  serv- 
itude. At  the  time  of  the  Norman  conquest,  a 
still  larger  proportion  of  the  people  were  held  as 
the  property  of  their  lords,  and  incapable  of  acquir- 
ing and  holding  any  property  of  their  own.* 

The   time   when  villain  slavery  wholly  ceased  in 

England    cannot    be    accurately    determined.     Mr. 

Hargrave    says,t    at    the    commencement    of    the 

■  seventeenth    century  African    slaves  were  sold  in 

London,  and  until  near  the  close  of  the  last  century. 

*  Hume's  "  History  of  England,"  vol.  i,  Appendix  I. 
f  "  Twenty  State  Trials,  40  ;  May  Const.  Hist.,"  cii. 


480      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

In  Scotland,  the  condition  of  servitude  continued 
to  a  later  period.  The  salters  and  colliers  did  not 
acquire  their  freedom  until  1799,  nor  without  an 
act  of  Parliament. 

The  removal  of  slavery  in  Great  Britain  was  not 
by  formal  enactment,  however,  so  much  as  by 
causes  silently  at  work  for  many  years,  leading  to  its 
gradual  abandonment.  Macaulay*  says  the  chief 
instrument  of  its  removal  was  the  Cliristian  religion. 
Mackintoshf  bears  similar  testimony. 

For  more  than  two  centuries  at  least  the  horrors 
and  iniquity  of  the  slave-trade  moved  no  pity  even 
in  the  most  civilized  nations.  By  the  triumph  of 
Marlborough,  England  secured  the  monopoly  of 
the  slave-trade  between  Africa  and  the  Spanish 
dominions,  and  planted  slavery  in  her  American 
colonies  and  in  her  West  Indian  islands.  Half  the 
wealth  of  Liverpool  accrued  from  this  cursed 
traffic,  and  exerted  its  benumbing  influence  on  the 
sensibilities  of  all  English-speaking  people. 

It  was  not,  says  Mr.  Green,  until  after  the  great  Wesleyan 
revival  in  the  last  century  had  quickened  the  moral  sensibilities 
of  the  English  nation  that  a  new  spirit  of  humanity  was  felt 
and  the  apathy  disappeared.  Philanthropy  was  a  corollary  of 
the  new  religious  movement,  and  it  actively  assailed  the  slave- 
trade,  forcing  itself  into  politics.  After  a  conversation  in  the 
open  air,  at  the  root  of  an  old  tree  just  above  the  steep  descent 
into   the  Vale  of  Keston,  with  the   younger   Pitt,  his   friend, 

*  "  History  of  England,"  vol.  i,  chap.  i. 
f  "  Histoiy  of  England,"  chap.  iv. 


Spiritual  Vitality.  481 

William  Wilberforce,  whose  position  as  a  representative  of  the 
Evangelical  party  gave  weight  to  his  advocacy  of  such  a  cause, 
resolved  to  bring  in  a  bill  for  the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade. 

Such  was  the  beginning  of  the  great  antislavery 
reform.  The  slave-trade  was  abolished  in  1808  ;  in 
1834,  800,000  slaves  were  emancipated  in  the  Brit- 
ish colonies  ;  in  1863,  4,000,000  were  liberated  in  the 
United  States;  and,  since  the  latter  date,  15,000,- 
000  serfs  have  been  emancipated  in  Russia,  and  a 
system  of  emancipation  has  gone  into  effect  in  Brazil 
which  liberated  5,000,000  slaves.  Other  emancipa- 
tions have  taken  place  in  Danish  and  French  colo- 
nies, in  Austria,  and  elsewhere.  And  we  ask  where 
in  nominal  Christian  countries,  and  especially 
where,  under  Protestant  governments,  does  slavery 
exist  to-day  ?  As  the  effect  of  these  emancipations, 
and  of  the  determined  suppression  of  the  slave- 
trade  by  Christian  governments,  and  of  the  influ- 
ence of  Christian  missions,  long  lines  of  African 
sea-coast  are  now  free  from  slave-pens,  once  so 
numerous,  and  Christian  missions  are  taking  their 
place.  Christian  civilization  is  penetrating  that 
dark  continent  on  every  side,  and  leading  to  Christ 
those  dusky  millions  once  the  victims  of  avarice 
and  oppression,  and  founding  Christian  states. 

When,  too,  was  the  great  vice  of  intemperance, 
so  venerable  for  its  antiquity,  so  mighty  in  its  in- 
fluence, so  seductive  in  its  power,  so  inwrought  by 

habit    and    appetite   and    social    courtesy   into  the 
;52 


482      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

very  life  of  the  nations,  ever  before  so  boldly  at- 
tacked and  determinedly  opposed,  as  during  the 
present  century?  The  battle  that  has  been  fought 
during  the  last  seventy  years  against  intoxicating 
liquors  has  been  a  momentous  conflict,  involving, 
in  its  inception  and  in  its  progress,  an  amount  of 
moral  courage,  moral  force,  and  faith,  for  which 
only  the  great  revivals  of  religion  that  preceded 
the  movement  and  accompanied  its  earliest  stages 
could  have  prepared  the  American  churches,  out  of 
which  the  reform  sprung,  and  from  which  it  de- 
rived its  best  support. 

It  would  be  a  pleasant  task  to  recite  in  detail 
what  has  been  gained  in  this  reform,  if  space  would 
admit.  We  have  the  work  still  on  our  hands. 
(See  pp.   293-308.) 

Do  you  say  that  intemperance  is  still  a  great  evil 
of  our  day — that  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars 
yearly  are  expended  in  some  Christian  countries 
for  intoxicating  drinks,  and  avast  amount  of  suffer- 
ing occasioned  ?  Yes  ;  but  it  was  Christianity  that 
exposed  this  great  waste — that  unmasked  the  true 
character  of  the  drinking  customs  of  society,  and 
brought  them  under  the  ban  of  enlightened  senti- 
ment ;  that  has  demonstrated  the  danger  of  moder- 
ate drinking ;  that  has  made  the  traffic  in  intoxica- 
ting liquors  as  a  beverage  disreputable  and  infa- 
mous ;  that  has  reformed  large  bodies  and  circles  of 
society   once    addicted    to    intoxication ;  that    has 


Spiritual  Vitality.  483 

erected  inebriate  asylums,  and  is  rapidly  making 
the  dealer  and  the  building  occupied  for  the  sale 
responsible  for  the  damage  done  by  the  liquors  sold. 
Where  in  the  non-Christian  world  are  there  such 
mighty  efforts  to  reform  and  save  ?  There  not  a 
finger  is  raised  to  protect  the  tempted  or  to  save 
the  fallen.  Criminality  and  revelry  are  encouraged, 
and  society  is  left  to  gravitate  downward  to  ruin. 

In  the   WorhVs  Morals. 

Does  some  one  remark,  Granted  that  we  know 
more  than  our  fathers,  that  we  can  do  more  with 
our  heads  and  hands,  that  we  have  more  and  better 
schools,  newspapers,  libraries,  etc.,  are  we,  after  all, 
any  better  morally  ? 

Let  me  specify.  In  our  times  we  see  little  organ- 
ized and  successful  resistance  of  moral  laws,  as  com- 
pared with  former  centuries.  Within  a  compara- 
tively recent  period  the  commerce  of  nearly  every 
nation  was  crippled  or  embarrassed  hy  pirates,  and 
hundreds  of  lives  and  millions  of  dollars  were  sacri- 
ficed every  year  to  their  rapacity.  Now  no  pirate 
sails  on  any  of  the  great  seas,  except  among  some 
of  the  East  India  islands. 

Until  quite  recently,  on  the  coast  of  England 
and  elsewhere,  it  was  a  current  custom  for  wreckers 
to  seize  and  appropriate  w-recked  vessels.  In  the 
eighteenth  century  the  practice  of  wrecking  in- 
creased to  a  fearful  degree.     Now  the  shipwrecked 


484      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

mariner,  on  all  the  great  coasts  of  North  America 
and  Europe,  is  met,  not  by  wreckers,  but  by  life- 
saving  stations  and  agents,  like  good  Samaritans, 
tenderly  caring  for  life  and  property. 

Highway  robbery  was  very  prevalent  in  the  last 
century  in  the  United  States  and  in  England. 
Many  are  the  stories  of  such  adventures  told  by  our 
fathers.  Horace  Walpole,  in  1781,  wrote,  "  One  is 
forced  to  travel,  even  at  noon,  as  if  he  were  going 
to  battle."  But  the  gangs  of  robbers  that  used  to 
infest  the  highways  of  England  and  America  have 
been  routed.  Roads  regarded  dangerous  within 
the  memory  of  men  now  living  are  safe.  Such  out- 
rages and  robberies  are  now^  exceptional,  and  bear 
no  proportion  to  the  increase  of  the  population. 

Dueling,  well-nigh  universal  among  Anglo-Saxon 
people  in  the  early  part  of  this  century,  has  almost 
wholly  disappeared.  Not  less  than  fourteen  of  the 
must  prominent  statesmen  in  the  United  States,  not 
to  speak  of  many  of  lesser  rank,  were  concerned  in 
duels  in  the  first  half  of  the  present  century.  A 
duelist  was  not  unacceptable,  on  that  account,  as  a 
candidate  for  the  presidential  chair,  as  we  see  in 
the  cases  of  Aaron  Burr,  Andrew  Jackson,  and 
Henry  Clay,  The  latter,  after  several  duels  in 
which  the  blood  of  his  rivals  stained  the  earth,  was 
nominated  for  the  presidency  as  late  as  1844,  and 
with  such  enthusiasm  in  the  convention,  that  it  was 
impossible  to   put   the  question   formally  to  vote. 


Spiritual  Vitality.  485 

Now  no  political  party  would  risk  its  chances  with 
a  duelist  as  a  candidate  for  that  high  office.  Some 
States  by  law  require  certain  officers  to  make  oath 
that  they  have  not  within  a  certain  time,  and  will 
not  hereafter,  be  concerned  in  a  duel. 

There  never  has  been  so  much  conscience  on  so 
many  subjects  and  among  so  many  people  as  now. 
The  consciences  of  men  in  our  day  are  better  in- 
formed and  more  susceptible  than  in  any  previous 
age.  Public  conscience  prohibits  more  things  and 
enforces  more  obligations  than  ever  before.  Weak 
and  infirm  consciences  there  are  to-day,  as  well  as 
weak  and  infirm  bodies,  and  there  are  still  many 
gaps  which  conscience  does  not  fill.  But  the  times 
are  steadily  educating  the  consciences  as  well  as  the 
brains  and  hands  of  the  race.  Forms  of  vice  once 
admired  and  enjoyed,  as,  for  instance,  men  fighting 
with  beasts,  now  find  no  apologists.  We  would 
sooner  trust  the  average  moral  sentiment  of  the 
present  age  than  of  any  other  age.  "  The  wonder 
is  that  we  have  so  much  conscience  in  a  country 
which  has  been  the  common  dumping  ground  of 
the  nations,  with  so  many  diverse  elements,  subject 
to  so  many  contagions  of  vice  and  dilutions  of 
virtue,  especially  in  the  cities  and  States  which  re- 
ceive the  first  dump  of  the  immigration    tip  cart." 

If  this  immigration  came  to  us  only  once  in 
several  hundred  years,  as  the  Saxons,  Danes,  and 
Normans  invaded  England,  the  case  would  be  very 


486      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

different ;  but  ours  comes  every  week  and  every 
day.  It  is  a  matter  of  congratulation  that,  not- 
withstanding this  great  influx  of  diverse  moral 
elements,  we  have  not  been  swept  away  from  our 
moorings,  nor  given  up  our  civil  and  religious  prin- 
ciples. The  standard  of  moral  obligation  has  not 
been  lowered,  and  the  average  conscience  nobly 
endures  the  strain. 

That  Christianity  is  a  builder  of  ethics  and  the 
source  of  all  our  ethics,  was  vigorously  stated  by 
Rev.  Professor  Austin  Phelps,  D.D.* 

The  ancient  religions,  excepting  that  of  the  Hebrews,  which 
was  Christianity  in  embryo,  had  no  systems  of  ethics.  They  did 
not  profess  to  have  any.  Ante-Christian  ethics,  so  far  as  they 
existed  outside  of  Hebrew  hterature,  were  independent  of 
rehgion.  Neither  had  any  radical  relation  to  the  other.  A 
Greek  or  Roman  devotee  might  be  guilty  of  all  the  crimes  and 
vices  known  to  the  criminal  code  of  ancient  jurisprudence,  and 
it  made  no  difference  to  his  character  as  a  religionist.  He 
might  be  the  most  execrable  of  mankind  in  the  courts  of  law, 
yet  he  could  cross  the  street  into  a  temple  of  religion,  and  there 
be  a  saint.  In  the  temple  of  Bacchus  or  of  Venus  his  very 
vices  were  virtues.  The  identity  of  morals  and  religion  is  a 
Christian  discovery. 

In  the  Physical  and  Social  Condition. 

In  its  purity  and  beneficence,  Christianity  shows 

its  ameliorating  influence  by  improving  the  physical 

and  social  condition  of  men.     We  sometimes  hear 

it  said   that  there  is  more  sickness  than  formerly, 

*  "  Congregationalist,"  May  2,  1887. 


Spiritual  Vitality.  487 

but  there  is  no  evidence  adduced  to  support  the 
assumption.  Doubtless  some  constitutions  suffer 
from  the  severe  strain  and  tension  of  modern  Hfe. 
But  never  were  the  sick  so  well  cared  for,  as  in  our 
day,  in  Christian  lands. 

Multitudes  are  now  raised  up  to  health  who  a 
century  ago  would  have  succumbed  to  disease. 
Our  late  President  Garfield  would  scarcely  have 
survived  a  week,  and  possibly  a  day,  under  the 
medical  treatment  of  a  hundred  years  ago.  Life  is 
thus  prolonged.  How  different  from  pagan  lands, 
where  the  sick  arc  speedily  consigned  to  death. 

Does  some  one  say  that  during  the  present  cent- 
ury, and  especially  within  the  last  fifty  years,  insan- 
ity has  greatly  increased  ;  that  Massachusetts,  for  in- 
stance, has  5  public  hospitals,  all  large,  and  each  ac- 
commodating from  300  to  500  patients,  besides  large 
private  institutions  for  this  class ;  that  all  of  them 
have  been  built  since  1820;  and  that  i  in  1,000  of 
the  population  of  the  United  States  is  insane,  and  i 
in  600  in  Massachusetts  ? 

In  reply,  we  say :  The  statistics  of  insanity  one 
hundred  years  ago,  or  even  fifty  years  ago,  were 
very  imperfect  as  compared  with  the  present.  The 
per  capita  increase,  therefore,  as  compared  with 
whole  populations,  cannot  be  demonstrated  for  any 
long  period.  But  if  we  take  out  the  foreign  insane, 
particularly  the  Irish  insane,  in  England,  in  Massa- 
chusetts, and  in  some  other  localities,  the  increase 


488      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

will  be  much  diminished.  A  high  authority  states 
that  the  percentage  of  insanity  in  Ireland  has  long 
been  larger  than  in  any  other  modern  countries. 
Their  transference,  therefore,  to  other  countries 
accounts  for  much  of  this  increase  in  those  lands. 

Care  for  the  insane  has  incalculably  improved,  in 
kindliness,  in  intelligent  consideration,  and  in  scien- 
tific treatment,  under  which  75  percent,  of  all  cases 
recover.  Probably  not  one  in  ten  under  the  regime 
of  one  hundred  years  ago  recovered. 

The  terror  that  attended  the  frightful  malady  has  been  dis- 
pelled, by  showing  that  it  has  no  connection  with  the  moon  or 
planets,  or  magic  of  any  sort,  but  is  simply  the  result  of  bodily 
disease.  .  .  .  The  heart  of  Christian  love  has  prepared  for 
the  insane  palatial  residences,  furnished  the  best  medical  treat- 
ment and  nursing,  and  provided  beautiful  and  attractive  pict- 
ures and  objects  to  divert  their  attention.  Lectures,  concerts, 
and  exhibitions  are  furnished,  tender  sympathy  is  expressed, 
and  hope  is  inspired.  Thus  a  large  majority  are  restored  ; 
while  in  heathenism  they  are  either  utterly  neglected  or  driven 
by  abuse  to  desperation,  and  abandoned  as  in  league  with 
Satan.  Thus  this  melancholy  chapter  in  modern  civilization 
becomes  a  beautiful  exhibition  of  Christian  philanthropy. 

Is  it  claimed  that  the  vocations,  the  various 
trades  and  employments,  and  the  artificial  life  inci- 
dent to  modern  civilization  are  producing  a  marked 
physical  deterioration  ?  That  some  deteriorating 
tendencies  are  apparent  in  the  physical  life  of  many 
cannot  be  denied.  Overcrowded  tenement  houses, 
cotton    and    woolen    mills,    mines,    luxurious    and 


Spiritual  VriALrrv.  489 

effeminate  living,  drunkenness,  etc.,  etc.,  are  exert- 
ing deleterious  influences  in  very  considerable 
bodies  of  people.  Something  like  these  things,  and 
in  part,  the  very  same  things,  exist  among  all 
civilized  communities,  whether  pagan  or  Christian. 
Nevertheless  the  fact  remains,  that  the  average  of 
human  life  is  lengthening.  There  may  be  areas 
where  the  average  of  human  life  is  shortening,  and 
diseases  are  multiplying,  just  as  on  the  surface  of 
the  earth  there  are  some  sandy  Saharas  and  howling 
wildernesses,  but  the  human  race  evinces  more 
fruitfulness  than  barrenness,  more  healthfulness 
than  sickness,  and  each  generation  is  scoring  more 
years  in  the  race  of  life  than  the  preceding.  Our 
civilization,  so  far  from  being  hostile  to  longevity,  is 
friendly  to  it. 

The  highest  average  occurs  in  countries  where  wealth, 
commerce,  and  civilization,  are  most  generally  diffused.  In 
England,  the  average  mortality  is  said  to  he  2.25  per  cent,  per 
annum;  in  Russia  3.50  per  cent.,  and  considerably  more  in 
some  provinces,  including  the  basins  of  the  Volga,  the  Dnieper, 
and  the  Don. 

If  a  high  state  of  civilization  were  unfavorable  to 
health  and  longevity,  we  should  expect  to  find 
among  the  most  highly  civilized  nations  a  relatively 
slower  growth  of  the  population,  and  the  higher 
the  civilization  the  slower  the  growth.     Let  us  see. 

There  is  the  fact,  confessedly  unquestioned  by 
those  who  have  studied  the  problem  of  populations, 


490      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

that  pagan  populations  grow  less  rapidly  than  those 
of  Christian  countries.  The  populations  of  the 
British  Isles,  as  a  whole  more  advanced  in  civili- 
aztion  than  those  of  other  portions  of  Europe, 
increased,  from  1500  to  1880,  600  percent.,  while 
those  of  other  portions  of  Europe  increased  200  per 
cent.  Taking  the  British  Isles  themselves,  since 
the  year  1200  we  find  a  very  rapidly  increasing  rate 
of  growth,  keeping  pace  with  the  greatest  advances 
in  civilization. 

The  rate  of  increase  has  been  as  follows : 

From  1200  to  1500 60  per  cent. 

From   1500  to  1600 30  per  cent. 

From  1600  to  1700 30  per  cent. 

From  1700  to  1800.. , 75  per  cent. 

From   1800  to  1891 137  per  cent. 

In  the  last  ninety  years  the  British  Isles  have  lost 
many  millions  of  people  by  emigration  to  British 
America,  the  United  States,  Australia,  India,  South 
Africa,  and  all  over  the  world,  and  yet,  with  this 
great  disadvantage,  there  was  a  relative  increase  of 
137  per  cent.  Such  an  augmented  rate  of  increase 
would  be  plainly  impossible  if  the  conditions  of  ad- 
vanced civilization  were  physically  deteriorating  in 
their  influence. 

It  is  too  palpable  to  be  denied  that  never  in  the 
world's  history  were  the  principles  of  sanitary  science 
so  well  understood  and  observed  by  such  large  num- 
bers of  people  as  at  the  present  time.      Take  speci- 


Spiritual  Vitality.  491 

men  facts.  Erasnuis,  who  visited  Enj^land  in  the 
time  of  Henry  VIII,  described  the  country  as  "  a 
land  of  filth,  every  room  full  of  grease,  fragments, 
bones,  spittle,  excrements  of  dogs,  cats,  etc.,  every- 
thing that  is  nauseous."  Such  a  description  would 
now  be  a  gross  libel. 

Compare  Ireland  in  the  last  century  and  to-day. 
Bishop  Berkeley  said,  writing  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  ago,  the  people  grew  up  in  a  contest  with  dirt 
and  beggary  beyond  any  other  people  in  Christen- 
dom. Their  habitations  and  furniture  were  more 
wretched  than  those  of  the  American  Indians.  The 
great  bishop  asked  whether  there  were  any  civilized 
people  so  beggarly  wretched  and  destitute  as  the 
common  Irish.  But  how  improved  now  their  con- 
dition even  in  Ireland.  How  much  more  so  the 
condition  of  those  who  have  come  to  England,  the 
Canaxias,  and  the  United  States.  Under  the  mold- 
ing influence  of  their  new  environments  they  have 
improved  their  physical,  social,  and  intellectual 
state. 

When  we  remember  the  extremely  degraded 
character  of  the  Britons  two  thousand  years  ago, 
declared  by  their  Roman  conquerors  as  unfit  even 
for  slaves,  and  then  consider  the  successive  infusions 
of  new  blood,  through  the  invaders  who  overrun 
and  dwelt  among  them — the  Romans,  the  Angles, 
the  Saxons,  the  Danes,  and  the  Normans — and  what 
a  noble  physical  development  has  characterized  the 


492      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Englishmen  of  these  later  centuries,  and  the  grand 
part  they  have  been  performing  in  history,  who 
shall  say  that  the  infusions  of  foreign  blood  into  the 
population  of  the  United  States,  now  going  on, 
may  not  so  invigorate  and  fortify  our  physical 
condition  as  ultimately  to  develop  us  into  a 
mightier  nation.  And,  more  than  this,  who  that 
intelligently  surveys  the  great  intermixing  of  races 
all  over  the  world,  under  the  modern  impulse  of 
colonization,  universal  commerce,  and  intercommu- 
nication, unlike  anything  before  known,  can  fail  to 
be  impressed  with  the  conviction  that  the  physical 
condition  of  the  whole  human  race  is  destined  to  be 
improved.  These  facts,  in  connection  with  the 
spread  of  sanitary  knowledge,  make  this  conclusion 
almost  certain. 

In  Literature. 

Take  Christ  out  of  literature  ;  take  Christian  the- 
ology out  of  literature ;  take  Christian  ideas  and 
sentiment  out  of  literature  ;  take  Christian  history 
and  institutions  out  of  literature ;  take  Christian 
charity  and  tenderness  out  of  literature  ;  take  the 
Christian  idea  of  immortality  out  of  literature,  and 
what  vacuums  will  be  produced.  Whole  volumes 
will  disappear  by  thousands  and  by  thousands  of 
editions.  Entire  chapters  will  be  torn  from  num- 
berless volumes  ;  millions  of  pages  will  be  mutilated 
by  the  remorseless  scissors,  and  logical   order  and 


Spiritual  Vitality.  493 

continuity  will  be  turned  into  chaos.  Whole 
shelves  and  entire  alcoves  in  our  libraries  will  be 
emptied.  Christ  is  the  greatest  element  in  the 
world's  literature. 

In  the   Worlcfs  Art. 

Art  has  indeed  flourished  under  pagan  as  well  as 
under  Christian  influences,  not  the  product  of 
paganism,  but  a  human  creation,  springing  from 
genius,  which  Christianity  has  purified,  expanded, 
and  enhanced. 

Rev.  Mr.  Weld  *  slightly  exaggerated  when  he  said : 

The  world  of  art  owes  its  existence  to  Christianity,  for  before 
Jesus  came  there  was  no  background  to  human  life.  His  life  gave 
it  tenderness  and  mystery,  and  showed  that  back  of  this  confu- 
sion lay  the  love  of  God,  and  men  saw  it,  and  for  the  first  time 
everything  was  changed  and  made  new. 

Ancient  Greece  and  Rome  had  their  art,  their 
beautiful  temples,  their  choice  statuary,  their  glow- 
ing pictures,  their  admirable  architecture  ;  but  what 
were  they,  in  variety  of  conception,  in  spirituality, 
in  humane  sentiment,  in  purity,  in  high  and  noble 
inculcations,  as  compared  with  the  products  of  art 
developed  during  these  eighteen  centuries  of  the 
world's  tutelage  in  the  school  of  Christ. 

Take  the  person  of  Christ  and  everything  relating 
to  him   out  of  art;  take   the  madonna  out  of  art  ; 

*  Unitarian  minister,  Baltimore,  Md. 


494      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

take  Old  Testament  and  New  Testament  scenes  out 
of  art  ;  take  the  early  Church,  the  mediaeval  Church, 
and  the  modern  Church  out  of  art ;  take  Christian 
temples,  cathedrals,  monuments,  asylums,  cemeter- 
ies, hospitals,  etc.,  out  of  art ;  take  Christian  ideals 
out  of  art ;  take  Christian  martyrs,  prophets,  heroes, 
reformers,  statesmen,  explorers,  and  philosophers  out 
of  art;  take  out  of  art  every  conception,  every  linea- 
ment, every  shade,  every  beauteous  light,  every 
softening  hue,  every  inspiring  hope  borrowed  from 
Christianity,  and  what  would  we  have  left?  Picture 
galleries  would  be  robbed  and  despoiled,  and  parlors 
and  halls  deprived  of  their  choicest  ornaments. 

/;/  the   World^s  Song. 
What  meagerness  of  song  among  all  pagan  na- 
tions !     Few  have  a  just  conception  of  it.    Christian- 
ity is  the  only  religion   that   goes   singing  its  way 
through  the  world.     Infidelity  never  sings. 

In  the  non-Christian  world  melody  is  unknown,  and  the 
service  of  song  is  no  part  of  religious  worship.  In  India  and 
China  there  are  only  a  few  harsh,  discordant  instruments, 
played  without  reference  to  harmony  or  melody,  only  to  the 
rude  clangor  of  a  noise ;  .  .  .  their  educational  systems  dis- 
courage vocal  music  altogether,  and  leave  it  to  be  practiced  by 
beggars,  stage  players,  montebanks,  etc.,  whom  they  despise.* 

An  anonymous  writer  has  said  : 

Throughout  the   antichristian  world  worship  is  a  mingling 
*  Rev.  L.  B.  Peet. 


Spiritual  Vitality.  495 

of  dread  and  fear,  and  there  are  no  heavenly  emotions  of 
love  and  joy  to  express.  Consequently  there  is  no  use 
for  song  or  melody  to  give  them  utterance.  And  in  all 
heathen  niylhology  and  poetry  and  philosophy  there  is  no 
conception  or  imagination  of  a  musical  heaven  to  come. 
Though  the  art  of  music  is  of  the  highest  antiquity,  and  the 
gamut  was  invented  by  the  Greeks,  it  remained  like  the 
moral  precepts  of  their  sacred  books,  dead  and  useless.  The 
harp  of  Orpheus  is  now  silent,  but  the  harp  of  David  is  trium- 
phant. For  all,  therefore,  which  is  delightful  in  harmony  and 
precious  in  song  we  are  indebted  to  the  Gospel.* 

The  Jewish  psalmody  was  developed  under  proph- 
ecies relating  to  Christ,  a  system  which  contained 
the  germs  of  Christianity.  When  Christianity  was 
fully  inaugurated,  as  from  her  divine  bosom,  music 
leaped  to  engage  in  her  service. 

As  soon  as  the  worship  emerged  from  the  catacombs  it 
showed  its  joyful  nature.  Anyone  who  studies  the  develop- 
ment of  music  will  see  how  it  leaped  forward  with  a  bound  in 
the  service  of  Christianity.  Greece  and  Rome  had  not  such  a 
musical  developinent  as  had  Judea  ;  but  when  Christianity  came 
the  Jewish  system  was  enlarged  for  the  music  for  which 
Jewish  psalmody  was  the  preparation.  Music  was  developed 
in  the  Church  through  the  stages  to  the  magnificent y^^^i/rtr/^ 
and  to  the  deep  miserere.  All  the  world  sings  with  us,  said 
St.  ChrysostoiTi.  In  the  dungeon  of  the  prisoner,  at  the  stake 
of  the  martyr,  were  sung  the  songs  of  the  new  religion.  Phi- 
losophy does  not  sing ;  science  has  no  note  ;  it  is  only  the  joy- 
ful soul  which  breaks  forth  into  song,  and  the  strain  is  taken 
up  and  carried  along  from  chorus  to  chorus  and  organ  to  or- 
gan. At  the  outset  of  Christianity  there  were  religious  sOngs. 
The  "  Gloria  in  Excelsis,"  dates  back  to  the  middle  of  the  second 

*  "  The  Philanthropies,"  p.  97. 


4g6      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

century,  and  perhaps  earlier.  The  Latin  language  developed 
new  possibilities.  Accent  took  the  place  of  quantity,  ami  there 
was  developed  also  the  power  of  rhyme,  which  before  this  had 
not  been  cultivated.* 

What  wonderful  advances  have  been  made  in 
song  since  that  early  period.  What  an  impulse  to 
song  did  the  Lutheran  Reformation  give.  What  an 
expansion  of  Christian  song  have  we  had  since  the 
Reformation  under  Luther,  and  especially  since  the 
great  Wesleyan  revival,  in  the  last  century.  This 
revival  permeated,  warmed,  thrilled,  inspired,  and 
made  joyful  and  exultant  the  Christian  conscious- 
ness as  never  before.  It  poured  a  flood  of  heaven's 
genial  light  into  men's  cold,  dark  hearts,  and  filled 
them  with  exultant  hope  and  praise. 

It  really  seems  as  though,  within  the  last  two  or 
three  centuries,  the  inner  sanctuary  of  spiritual  joy, 
hope,  and  faith  had  been  opened  to  the  Church  as 
never  before.  Certainly  never  before  were  such 
thrilling  strains  sung. 

Luther  sang  that  glorious  sentiment  of  sublime 
faith : 

"A  mighty  fortress  is  our  God, 

A  bulwark  never  failing  : 
Our  helper  he,  amid  the  flood 

Of  mortal  ills  prevailing." 

Baxter  followed,  singing : 

"Come,  Lord,  when  grace  hath  made  me  meet 
Thy  blessed  face  to  see  ; 

*  Rev.  R.  S.  Storrs,  D.D.,   Lowell  Institute  Lecture,  Boston. 


Spiritual  Vitality.  497 

For,  if  thy  work  on  earth  l>c  sweet. 
What  will  thy  glory  be?" 

In  joyful  hope  Doddridge  broke  out : 

"  O  happy  day  that  fixed  my  choice, 
On  thee,  my  Saviour  and  my  God." 

In  grateful  thanksgiving  Addison  sang  : 

"  When  all  thy  mercies,  O  my  God, 

My  rising  soul  surveys, 
Transported  with  the  view,  I'm  lost 

In  wonder,  love,  and  praise." 

With  clear  evangelical  faith  Toplady  sang : 

"  Rock  of  Ages,  cleft  for  me, 
Let  me  hide  myself  in  thee." 

Watts,  longing  for  brighter  visions,  exclaimed : 

"  Could  we  but  climb  where  Moses  stood, 

And  view  the  landscape  o'er, 
Not  Jordan's  stream,  nor  death's  cold  flood, 

Should  fright  us  from  the  shore." 

Scaling  the  mount  of  faith  Charles  Wesley  sang: 

"  Rejoicing  now  in  earnest  hope, 
I  stand,  and  from  the  mountain  top 

See  all  the  land  below  : 
Rivers  of  milk  and  honey  rise, 
And  all  the  fruits  of  Paradise 

In  endless  plenty  grow." 

In   the  full  experience  of  an  all-embracing  faith 

John  Wesley  sang: 
33 


498      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

"  O  Love,  thy  bottomless  abyss, 

My  sins  are  swallowed  up  in  thee ! 
Covered  is  my  unrighteousness, 

Nor  spot  of  guilt  remains  on  me, 
While  Jesus'  blood,  through  earth  and  skies, 
Mercy,  free,  boundless  mercy,  cries." 

Nor  is  this  the  end,  nor  will  it  be.  These  are  only 
a  few  specimens  of  the  Carmina  Sacra  of  the  mod- 
ern Church  in  religious  worship,  which  have  become 
so  extensively  used  in  our  day.  The  expansion  of 
Christian  song,  and  especially  in  social  worship  dur- 
ing the  last  fifty  years,  has  been  wonderful,  a  glori- 
ous contrast  to  any  former  period.  In  over  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  congregations  of  worshipers 
in  the  United  States,  in  many  more  in  Europe, 
and  in  fifteen  thousand  mission  stations  and  sub- 
stations in  Africa,  Asia,  and  Oceanica,  the  voice  of 
Christian  song  is  heard  every  Sabbath,  and  on  many 
evenings  each  week,  and  in  millions  of  Christian 
families  every  day.  It  has  increased  more  than  a 
hundred  fold  in  the  last  one  hundred  and  fifty  years. 
These  inspiring  songs  are  sung  in  scenes  of  joy  and 
scenes  of  grief;  at  bridal  altars  and  by  dying  beds; 
in  the  solitude  of  the  closet  and  in  choral  halls  of 
thousands  of  trained  voices.  Much  of  this  music 
has  been  professional  singing,  but  manifold  more 
spontaneous,  joyful  outpourings  of  the  heart  of 
Christendom,  in  adoration  and  thanksgiving  to  God. 

We  have  had  apostles  o{Q\\x\s\\'a.\\  song — Bliss  and 
Sankey — rocking  our  American   States  with  enrapt- 


Spiritual  Vitality.  499 

uring  praises,  and  swaying  England  and  Scotland 
with  thrilling  Christian  melodies;  and  Philip 
Phillips,  carrying  the  gospel  of  song  all  over  this 
country,  the  British  Isles,  Europe,  to  Jerusalem,  to 
India,  to  Ceylon,  to  Australia,  and  the  isles  beyond. 
This  cheerful,  joyful  element  of  popular  Christian 
song  was  but  little  known  in  the  Church  until  since 
the  modern  baptisms  of  grace  so  copiously  experi- 
enced in  the  last  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ele- 
vated the  Christian  consciousness  into  closer  and 
more  satisfying  oneness  with  God.  It  is  the  fruit 
of  clearer  and  larger  faith  and  higher  spiritual  reali- 
zations, and  brings  redeemed  humanity  nearer  to  the 
melodious  musical  heaven  unfolded  in  the  Apoca- 
lypse. 

In  Practical,  Social,  and  Institutional  Work. 

Some  conditions  of  society,  long  neglected,  are 
now  being  reached.  Christianity  is  looking  more 
sharply  and  widely  than  ever  before  into  the  entire 
field  of  humanity,  and  penetrating  localities,  nooks, 
and  classes  heretofore  but  little  reached,  or  once 
treated  as  beyond  the  pale  of  effort.  This  work  is 
now  being  done  by  methods  which  partake  more 
or  less  of  an  institutional  character,  and  therefore 
are  crystallizing  into  more  practical,  industrial,  and 
permanent  forms.  It  is  an  effort,  not  only  to 
convert  the  people  to  Christianity,  but  to  build 
them    into   Christian    institutions   and,  life  in   such 


50O      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

a  way  that  their  temporal  and  social  interests,  as 
well  as  the  spiritual,  may  be  conserved  and  pro- 
moted. 

Dogmas  and  empty  sensationalism  are  being  sup- 
planted by  practical  work  and  personal  upbuilding. 
Allegiance  to  Christ  is  coming  to  mean  something 
more  than  expressing  a  desire  for  prayers,  singing 
namby-pamby  songs,  and  assenting  to  a  few  formulas 
long  ago  emptied  of  meaning  ;  it  means  concrete 
religion  in  the  common  affairs  of  life,  the  social 
amelioration  of  the  most  needy  classes,  and  the  ap- 
plication of  renovating  influences  to  men  in  their 
most  vital  relations. 

The  colleges  are  establishing  professorships  of 
"  Applied  Christianity  "  and  lectures  on  Christian 
socialism  ;  and  collegiate  and  theological  students 
are  making  "  settlements  "  or  institutional  homes 
for  social  contact,  industrial  aid,  and  religious  en- 
deavors, often  in  the  denser  slums  of  the  large  cities. 
I  cite  a  specimen  example  : 

On  the  top  of  Copp's  Hill,  near  the  Old  North  Church, 
Boston,  where  were  hung  Paul  Revere's  lanterns,  which  warned 
the  country  of  the  approach  of  the  British  upon  Lexington  and 
Concord,  a  party  of  young  Epworth  Leaguers  and  university 
students  have  set  up  an  institution  which  is  designed  similarly 
to  arouse  the  patriotism  and  Christian  loyalty  of  the  surround- 
ing country,  and  warn  the  people  that  an  enemy  worse  than  the 
British  had  encamped  upon  the  old  Puritan  hills.  Instead  of 
red-coated  grenadiers,  there  is  a  host  of  some  seventy  thousand 
Jews,  Italians,  Portuguese,  and  Irish.     They  do  not  come  with 


Spiritual  Vitality.  501 

arms  and  aiiimiiiiition,  hut  witli  ballots.  .  .  .  They  are  like  a 
giant,  blind,  strong,  oC  uncontrolled  energy;  striking  not  be- 
cause of  hate,  but  rather  from  a  nervous  unrest  and  a  nameless 
sense  of  wrong.  They  may  be  soothed  by  caresses,  but  will 
never  be  put  down  by  force.  These  restless  spirits  need  the 
Christian  nurse  and  physician  rather  than  the  jailer's  chains ; 
and  when,  by  Christian  sympathy,  they  are  brought  to  their 
right  minds,  instead  of  being  enemies,  they  will  prove  to  be  one 
of  the  mightiest  agencies  for  good  in  our  civilization.* 

The  young  men  of  the  Boston  University  School 
of  Theology  who  are  active  in  this  work  have  called 
it  a  "  University  Settlement."  They  are  "  special- 
ists," giving  time  to  the  Italians,  Jews,  Portuguese, 
to  cheap  lodging  houses,  etc.,  yet  all  working 
along  similar  lines,  evangelistic,  industrial,  medical, 
etc.  Their  residence  is  a  model  American  home — 
not  a  monastic  order  or  a  professional  club,  but  a 
clean,  sweet,  cheerful  American  home,  where  Chris- 
tian women  preach  and  illustrate  the  Gospel  of 
cleanliness  and  domestic  economy. 

These  institutional  "  settlements  "  are  now  spring- 
ing up  in  many  denominationsf  and  cities;  and  who 
wnll  say  that  they  are  not  among  the  best  evidences 
that  Christianity  is  not  a  spent  force,  but  is  showing 
in  our  day  courage  and  faith  and  power  as  never 
before  exhibited,  in  undertaking  the  solution  of  the 
greatest  and  most  difficult  phases  of  the  problem 
of  human  redemption. 

*  "  Epworth  League  Home  "  (University  Settlement),  34  Hull 
Street,  Boston,  pp.  7-8. 

\  The  Andover  Home,  etc. 


502      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

The  recent  book  of  General  Booth  on  "  Darkest 
England,"  and  the  plans  he  unfolds,  are  other 
evidences  of  a  heroic  grappling  with  phases  of  evil, 
which  have  been  adjourned  over  to  us  by  previous 
centuries.  Until  the  present  period  Christianity  had 
not  the  courage  to  touch  them. 

A  few  years  ago,  "  The  Churchman  "  called  atten- 
tion to  another  important  phase  of  Christian  effort 
in  Great  Britain  : 


The  Society  for  Promoting  Industrial  Villages  in  England 
has  for  its  object  to  draw  together  all  who  would  remedy  the 
deplorable  condition  of  the  large  cities  and  towns,  and  remove 
from  them  the  members  of  the  unemployed  classes,  whose 
presence  is  a  perpetual  menace  to  the  social  and  religious  well- 
being  of  the  community.  As  one  remedy  for  this  abnormal 
state  of  congestion  in  the  urban  communities,  the  society  pro- 
poses the  multiplication  of  village  industries,  so  as  to  prevent 
the  unemployed  out  of  the  rural  districts  from  crowding  into 
the  already  too  densely  populated  cities,  by  encouraging  poul- 
try, fruit,  and  bee  farming  and  culture,  as  being  among  the 
means  more  immediately  available  for  helping  the  holders  of 
small  plots  of  land.  The  society  also  purchases  parcels  of 
land — chiefly  unreclaimed  moor  land — which  it  divides  up  into 
allotments.  These  are  put  under  the  supervision  of  a  compe- 
tent overseer,  and  to  these  are  drafted  numbers  of  street  Arabs 
and  unemployed  men  with  their  wives  and  families,  to  whom  is 
afforded  what  is  necessary  for  cultivating  the  ground,  and  of 
living  thenceforward  by  the  fruits  of  their  honest  labor.  The 
plan  appears  to  have  worked  well,  and  as  it  has  been  taken  up 
by  influential  Churchmen,  such  as  the  Dean  of  Westminster, 
Archdeacon  Farrar,  Lords  Onslow  and  Brownlow,  and  is  fur- 
ther encouraged  by  the  Church  Temperance  Society,  its  opera- 
tion will  be  accompanied  by  that  religious  element  which  is  so 


Spiritual  Vitality.  503 

often  wanting  in  such  schemes  of  what  the  world  wrongly  calls 
"pure  philanthropy,"  as  if  true  philanthropy  can  ever  be  di- 
vorced from  religion. 

The  writer  also  wisely  suggests : 

Might  not  the  plan  be  tried  on  a  much  larger  scale  in  a 
country  like  this,  wiiose  cities  are  as  hives  of  bees — too  fre- 
quently of  drones,  not  workers,  whose  huge  towns  reek  with 
impurity  and  unhealthiness,  their  streets  and  alleys  being  rather 
death  traps  for  soul  and  body  than  conducive  to  that  perfect 
soundness  which  beseems  the  inhabitants  of  a  Christian  land  ? 
In  South  Georgia  and  Horida,  with  climates  of  unsurpassable 
beauty,  and  soil  of  inexhaustible  fertility,  there  are  acres  and 
acres  of  abandoned  plantation  land,  as  well  as  of  that  which  as 
yet  has  not  known  the  plow  or  the  spade.  This  could  be 
acquired  at  a  moderately  cheap  rate,  especially  in  Georgia,  and 
thus  influential  parishes  in  the  large  Northern  cities  might  send 
out  colonies  whose  members,  besides  relieving  the  urban  popu- 
lation and  finding  wholesome  dwelling  places,  would  be  the 
nucleus  of  the  churches  of  the  future. 

The  New  York  City  Mission  Society,  for  a  long 
time  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  and  successful 
evangelizing  organizations  in  our  large  communities, 
presents  a  synopsis  of  Christian,  industrial,  and 
social  work  among  the  churches  under  its  super- 
vision worthy  of  special  attention  in  this  connection. 


German  meetings  :  Seven  serv- 
ices each  week. 

Circles  : 

I.  Shining  Light. 

Give  food  and  clothing  to  needy, 
who  are  personally  invited. 


Olivet  Church. 

2.  Willing  Workers. 
Make  and  give  garments. 

3.  King's  Sons. 
Personal  effort  for  boys. 

4.  Thread  and  Needle  Club. 
Proviile  places  in  hospitals  for 


504      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


sick  cliildien  ;  pay  rent  of  needy 
families;  give  materials  for 
Thanksgiving  dinners. 

5.  Sewing    Circle    of   Sunday- 
School  Children. 

6.  The   McAlpine   Kindergar- 
ten. 


Olivet  Church  (Continued). 

Five  mornings  each  week    for 
children  of  three  to  five  years. 

7.  Penny  Provident  Bank — one 
hundred  and  eighty  depositors. 

8.  The  Olivet  Library. 
9    Reading-room. 

10.  A  Gymnasium. 


De  Witt  Memorial  Church 
Sends  missionaries  out  among 
Germans  and  Jews. 
Circles  or  Societies : 

1.  The  Christian  Endeavor. 

2.  The  Helping  Band. 

3.  A  Free  Library. 

4.  A  Mission  Band. 


5.  Circle  for  Practical   House- 
work and  Garment  Sewing. 

6.  Kindergarten. 

7.  Light  Home — movable  mis- 
sion. 

8.  Chinese  work. 


Broome  Street  Tabernacle. 

1.  Seven  lady  missionaries  and 
two  trained  nurses,  witli  other 
occasional  volunteers  from 
churciies. 

2.  Bible  classes  for  young  men. 
Bible  classes  for  young  women. 
Bible  classes  for  adults. 

3.  Italian  Department. 

4.  King's  Daughters. 


5.  Band  of  Hope. 

6.  Yoke-fellow  Band. 

7.  Christian  Endeavor. 

8.  Kindergarten. 

9.  Reading-room. 
10    .Sociables. 

11.  Sewing  School. 

12.  Gymnasium. 

13.  Penny  Provident  Bank. 


Italian  Church 

1.  Regular  services  by  mission- 
aries. 

2.  Young  Ladies'  Dressmaking 
Circle. 


3.  Society  of  Brotherly  Help. 

4.  Girls'  Class. 

5.  Boys'  Club. 

6.  Sewing  Circle. 


Church  of  the  Sea  and  Land 
I.  Male    and    female    mission 


2.  Young    People's    Society  of 
Christian  Endeavor. 


Spiritual  Vitality. 


505 


Church  of  the  Sea  and  Land  (Continued). 


3.  Lylian  Association. 

4.  Kiiulergaiten. 

5.  Sewing  Sciiool. 

6.  Girls'  Helping  Hand  Club. 

7.  Afghan  Missionary  Society. 

8.  Lodging-house. 

Woman's  Branch 

1.  Representatives  in  fifteen 
churches. 

2.  Day  nurseries  maintained, 
with  forty-one  ladies  enrolled, 
and  training  classes. 

3.  Mission  work  in  tenement 
houses,  calling  upon  hundreds  of 
mothers,  who  often  ill-treat  their 
children,    teaching    the    mothers 


9.  Open-air  meetings. 

10.  Cottage  prayer-meetings. 

11.  City  Vigilance  League. 

12.  Jewish  work — one  man  and 
two  assistants. 


OF  New  York. 

lessons   of    self-control,    temper- 
ance, and  kindness. 

4.  Mothers'  meetings. 

5.  Children's  meetings. 

6.  Sewing  schools. 

7.  Day  nursery,  showing  an 
aggregate  attendance  during  one 
year  of  15,959  children. 

8.  Fresh  Air  Circle  —  sends 
many  children  outside  of  the  city. 


All  the  above  are  related  to  the  New  York  City- 
Mission  Society.*  Similar  work  is  now  performed 
by  hundreds  of  such  societies  in  all  the  large  cities 
of  the  United  States,  Canada,  Great  Britain,  etc. 

Those  mammoth  organizations,  the  Young  Peo- 
ple's Society  of  Christian  Endeavor,  the  Epworth 
League,  the  King's  Daughters,  the  King's  Sons,  the 
St.  Andrew's  Societx',  with  many  millions  of  mem- 
bet"s  in  active  religious  work,  are  also  the  fruitage 
of  the  recent  enrichment  of  spirituality  in  the  mod- 
ern Churches,  paralleled  in  no  other  age. 

An   order   of  deaconesses,  now   numbering    four 


*  Office  :  United  Charities  Building,  Twenty-second   Street   and 
Fourth  Avenue,  New  York  city. 


5o6      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

hundred  and  forty-one,  has  been  estabUshed  in 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  with  numerous 
"  Homes."  They  labor  among  the  destitute,  the 
neglecters  of  religious  worship,  and  minister  to  the 
sick  in  hospitals  and  elsewhere.  It  is  another  prom- 
ising and  significant  phase  of  religious  progress. 

The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  has  three  orders 
of  brothers  and  sixteen  orders  of  sisterhoods,  be- 
sides many  deaconesses. 

Nor  are  those  who  do  business  for  us  upon  the 
great  waters  overlooked.  It  will  be  an  instructive 
and  significant  evidence  of  this  great  outgoing  of 
Christianity  into  the  world's  consciousness  and  life 
to  read  the  following  statement*  of  the  work  of  the 
American  Seamen's  Friend  Society  in  supplying 
ships  with  libraries  : 

"  The  whole  number  of  new  Loan  Libraries  sent 
to  sea  from  the  rooms  of  the  American  Seamen's 
Friend  Society  at  New  York  and  at  Boston,  Mass., 
from  1858-9,  to  April  i,  1894,  was  10,052;  and  the 
reshipments  of  the  same  for  the  same  period  were 
11,466;  the  total  shipment  aggregating  21,518. 
The  number  of  volumes  in  these  libraries  was  520,- 
860,  and  they  were  accessible,  by  shipment  and  re- 
shipment,  to  381,764  men.  Ten  hundred  and  thir- 
teen libraries,  with  36,661  volumes,  were  placed  upon 
vessels  in  the  United  States  Navy  and  Navy  Hos- 
pitals, and  were  accessible  to  117,079  men;  148 
*  "Sailors'  Magazine,"  October,  1894,  p.  322. 


Spiritual  Vitality.  507 

libraries  were  placed  in  148  stations  of  the  United 
States  Life-Saving  Seivicc,  containing  5,550  vol- 
umes, accessible  to  1,197  keepers  and  surfmen." 

This  Elevation  not  the  Fruitage  of  Civilization,  but 
of  Christianity. 

There  is  an  innpression  in  some  minds  that  these 
signs  of  progress  are  due,  not  to  Christianity,  but  to 
civilization.  It  is  popular  in  some  quarters  to  seek 
some  other  cause  than  the  Christian  religion,  by 
which  to  account  for  the  beneficent  changes  so  ex- 
tensively going  on. 

What  is  civilization  ?  What  are  the  attributes  of 
civilization  ?  Is  it  an  original  inherent  force,  or  an 
effect  of  forces  outside  of  itself?  Where  are  its 
springs?  And  how  many  different  civilizations 
has  the  world  seen — the  Babylonian,  the  Egyptian, 
the  Jewish,  the  Grecian,  the  Roman,  the  Chinese, 
the  Hindu,  the  ancient,  mediaeval,  and  the  modern  ? 
And  how  diverse  ! 

How  plain  it  is  that  none  but  the  Christian  civil- 
ization ever  developed  philanthropy.  Max  Miiller 
says  the  word  "  mankind  "  never  passed  the  lips  of 
Socrates  or  Plato  or  Aristotle.  "  Where  the  Greeks 
saw  barbarians,  we  see  brethren.''  Among  pagan 
nations  there  have  been  high  culture,  art,  and  elo- 
quence, but  no  humanity.  Greece  and  Rome  had 
shrines  for  numberless  divinities,  forty  theaters  for 
amusement,  thousands  of  perfumery  stores,  but  no 


5o8      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

shrine  for  brotherly  love,  no  almshouse  for  the 
poor.  Millions  of  money  were  expended  upon 
convivial  feasts,  but  nothing  for  asylums  for  orphans, 
or  homes  for  widows.  "  In  all  my  classical  read- 
ing," says  Professor  Packard,  a  life-long  professor  of 
ancient  languages  in  Bowdoin  College,  "  I  have 
never  met  with  the  idea  of  an  infirmary  or  hospital, 
except  for  sick  cats  (a  sacred  animal),  in  Egypt." 
Dr.  Schneider,  forty  years  a  missionary  in  Turkey, 
said  he  knew  of  only  one  Moslem  hospital  in  the 
whole  Moslem  empire.  China  and  Japan  have  a 
few  institutions  bearing  some  outward  resemblance 
to  our  philanthropies,  but  closer  inspection  discloses 
the  fact  that  they  are  not  erected  for  the  good  of 
others,  for  the  relief  of  the  unfortunate,  or  the  recov- 
ery of  the  vicious.  Their  foundling  asylums  are  spec- 
ulations, rather  than  charities,  only  female  children 
being  received,  and  trained  to  be  sold  as  prostitutes. 
In  pagan  lands  caste  is  an  insuperable  barrier  to 
sympathy.  Monkeys  are  worshiped  and  provided 
with  gorgeous  temples,  as  much  as  $50,000  being 
sometimes  expended  on  the  marriage  of  two  sacred 
apes.  "  Boa  constrictors  are  maintained  in  state, 
but  no  provision  is  made  for  suffering  humanity." 
But  Christianity  is  a  religion  of  sympathy  with  the 
unfortunate,  and  during  the  last  one  hundred 
years  it  has  been  widely  diffused  in  the  world's  con- 
sciousness and  life,  and  has  become  one  of  the  most 
widely  operative  living  principles  of  the  world. 


Sri  RITUAL  Vitality.  509 

Without  extended  discussion,  an  authority  whose 

abihty  and  impartiahty  will  not  be  questioned  shall 

decide  this  question,  as  to  whether  Christianity  has 

been  the  active  factor  of  this  modern  progress.  Mr. 

Lecky  says :  * 

The  great  characteristic  of  Christianity,  and  the  proof  of  its 
divinity,  is  that  it  has  been  the  main  source  of  the  mora!  de- 
velopment of  Europe,  and  that  it  has  discharged  this  office, 
not  so  much  by  the  inculcation  of  a  system  of  ethics,  however 
pure,  as  by  the  assimilating  and  attractive  influence  of  a  perfect 
ideal.  The  moral  progress  of  mankind  can  never  cease  to  be 
distinctively  and  intensely  Christian,  as  long  as  it  consists  of 
a  gradual  approximation  to  the  character  of  the  Christian 
Founder.  There  is  indeed  nothing  more  wonderful  in  the 
history  of  the  human  race  than  the  way  in  which  that  ideal  has 
traversed  the  lapse  of  ages,  acquiring  new  strength  and  beauty 
with  each  advance  of  civilization,  and  infusing  its  beneficent  in- 
fluence into  every  sphere  of  thought  and  action. 

Again,  Mr.  Lecky  says: 

Christianity,  the  life  of  morality,  the  basis  of  civilization,  has 
regenerated  the  world. 

Again  :  f 

It  (the  Christian  religion)  softens  the  character,  purifies  and 
directs  the  imagination,  blends  insensibly  with  habitual  modes 
of  thought,  and,  without  revolutionizing,  gives  a  tone  and  bias 
to  all  the  forms  of  action. 

Mr.  Froude  says  :  j^ 

All  that  we  call  modern  civilization,  in  a  sense  which  deserves 
the  name,  is  the  visible  expression  of  the  transforming  power  of 
the  Gospel. 

*  "  History  of  Rationalism  in  Europe,"  I,  p.  336,  English  edition, 
f  "  European  Morals,"  vol.  i,  p.  205. 
X  "  Short  Studies,"  II,  p.  39. 


510      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Again,  Mr.  Lecky  :  * 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  Christianity  has  done  more  to  quicken 
the  affections  of  mankind,  to  promote  piety,  to  create  a  pure 
and  merciful  idea,  than  any  other  influence  that  has  ever  acted 
upon  the  world. 

Carlyle  has  well  remarked  :  f 

The  Christian  religion  must  be  ever  regarded  as  the  crown- 
ing glory,  or  rather  the  life  and  soul,  of  our  whole  modern 
culture. 

Mr.  Martineau  has  said  : :{: 

There  is  not  a  secular  reform  in  the  whole  development  of 
modern  civilization  which  (if  it  is  more  than  mechanical)  has 
not  drawn  its  inspiration  from  a  religious  principle.  Infirm- 
aries for  the  body  have  sprung  out  of  duty  to  the  soul ;  schools 
for  the  letter,  that  free  way  may  be  opened  for  the  spirit ;  san- 
itary laws,  that  the  diviner  elements  in  human  nature  may  not 
become  incredible  and  hopeless  from  their  full  environment. 
Who  would  ever  lift  a  voice  for  the  slave  that  looked  no  farther 
than  his  face .''  or  build  a  reformatory  for  the  culprit  child  if  he 
saw  nothing  but  the  slouching  gait  and  the  thievish  eye  ? 

At  the  present  time  no  intelligent  person,  stand- 
ing in  the  light  of  the  last  four  centuries,  and  be- 
holding the  great  religious  movements  of  this  age, 
can  doubt  that  Christianity  is  advancing.  Every 
year  it  is  robing  itself  with  new  effulgence,  and 
pouring  its  blessed  illumination  upon  new  millions 
of  earth's  population. 

*"  European  Morals,"  II,  163. 

f  Essay  on  "  Tlie  Signs  of  tlie  Times." 

:j:  "  Hours  of  Thought,"  pp.  iSi,  182. 


IV.  STATISTICAL  EXHIBITS. 


CHAPTER  1. 
STATISTICAL   SCIETsTCE. 

Preliminary  Observations. 


lY.-STATISTIOAL  EXHIBITS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

STATISTICAL  SCIENCE. 

T  T  is  the  habit  of  some  persons  to  discard  reh'gious 
-^  statistics,  and  to  complain  that  an  undue  im- 
portance is  attached  to  them.  *'  Of  what  conse- 
quence," they  ask,  '*  is  it  that  three  new  churches 
are  built  every  day,  so  long  as  the  ideas  they  are 
supposed  to  represent  are  fast  dying  out  ? " 
"  Some  denominations  are  so  infatuated  with  their 
numerical  growth  and  preponderance,  that  they  are 
in  danger  of  losing  sight  of  those  higher,  and  deeper, 
and  more  potent  elements  and  forces  which  Chris- 
tianity represents."  **  Give  us  the  Gospel  with  its 
moral  and  spiritual  forces,  and  we  care  not  who 
holds  the  book  of  numbers." 

No  mathematics,  certainly,  are  cunning  enough 
to  fully  calculate  the  work  of  Christianity,  and  sum 
up  its  effects  as  it  goes  through  the  world,  moder- 
ating its  coldness,  calling  forth  countless  forms  of 
life,  activity,  and  beauty,  purifying  its  fountains, 
and  filling  it  with  verdure  and  fragrance  and  music. 

And  yet  it  is  also  true  that  there  are  no  phenomena 
34 


514       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

which  may  not  be  approximately  enumerated,  and 
the  more  distinct  and  positive  they  are,  the  more 
definitely  may  they  be  numbered  and  aggregated. 

"  For  those  who  do  not  believe  in  the  permanency 
and  the  importance  of  the  Church,"  says  one  of  the 
most  cultured  religious  editors,  "  as  an  external 
institution,  it  is  well  enough  to  talk  contentedly 
about  the  indirect  influence  of  literature  and  the 
leavening  effected  by  opinions  as  they  percolate 
through  society  in  secret  ways.  But  if  the  Church 
is  a  lasting  and  indispensable  agency  we  must  be 
seeing  to  it,  not  merely  that  the  community  is  lib- 
eralized, but  that  Church  institutions  are  organized 
and  ideas  crystallized  in  organic  forms.  .  .  .  Chris- 
tianity, from  the  days  of  the  apostles,  has  been  a 
propagandism  of  Christ's  truth  by  means  of  Church 
organizations.  The  spirit  of  Christianity  alone  is 
not  a  Church  :  and  without  a  Church  it  degenerates 
and  loses  itself  in  vague  aspirations."  He,  there- 
fore, calls  upon  his  brethren  to  strive  to  disseminate 
their  principles,  and  "  show  at  the  end  of  each  year 
a  plain  and  positive  gain  in  numbers,  faith,  and 
influence."* 

In  previous  pages,  we  have  carefully  examined 
the  question  of  religious  progress  in  its  intellectual 
moral,  social,  and  spiritual  aspects.  It  is,  therefore, 
fitting  that  attention  now  be  directed  to  the  more 
concrete  numerical  forms  in  which  the  progress  and 
*  "  Liberal  Christian,"  1871. 


Statistical  Exhibits.  5^5 

results  of  Christianity  may  be  traced  in  the  world. 
Positive  ideas  assume  a  clear,  distinct,  differenti- 
ated form  ;  and  the  positive  elements  in  a  religion 
determine  its  character,  durability,  influence,  power, 
and  destiny.  It  is  the  positive  elements  which  a 
man  receives,  and  not  what  he  rejects,  that  assimi- 
late and  organize  themselves  into  his  fibers  and 
faculties,  and  reveal  themselves  in  concrete  forms 
in  his  life.  This  is  the  law  of  growth  in  spiritual, 
social,  and  ecclesiastical  life.  Ecclesiastical  success 
is  the  development  of  religious  principles  in  organic 
forms,  according  to  laws  of  religious  growth. 

"  Influential  Churches  and  sects  are  never  built 
up.  Men  cannot  put  their  heads  and  hands  together 
and  manufacture  a  religion.  They  cannot  create 
permanent  and  potential  organizations ;  for  the 
creative,  organizing  force  is  behind  and  above  the 
human  will,  in  ideas  and  sentiments  which  at  best 
they  can  but  perceive  and  lay  hold  of,  and  flows 
down  into  the  spirit  of  man  through  faith,  taking 
possession  of  intellect  and  imagination,  making  men 
the  keys  through  which  its  ideal  harmonies  are 
poured  into  history.  Denominations  are  not  de- 
signed and  constructed  by  human  carpentry  ;  a  great 
truth  takes  possession  of  a  multitude  of  men  through 
their  faith  irwit,  binds  them  into  a  body,  becomes 
the  informing  spirit  of  their  organization,  and  puts 
forth  its  power  through  all  available  channels  of 
influence.      A  religion   is  the  crystallization   of  a 


5i6       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

great  idea,  a  spiritual  force,  in  the  history  of  the 
race."  * 

Viewed  in  such  a  light,  ecclesiastical  statistics, 
like  moral,  social,  commercial,  and  political  statistics, 
have  a  distinct  significance.  Their  importance  has 
been  enhanced  by  the  recent  studies  of  exact 
science.  Comt6  and  Buckle  gave  an  impulse  to 
statistical  inquiries,  and  they  are  now  becoming  "  a 
specialty  "  in  Europe  and  in  America.  "  Statistic- 
ians rank  as  a  class  of  savants,  with  important 
organizations  or  '  societies,'  in  the  principal  cities  of 
Europe,  and  the  results  of  their  researches  are 
highly  appreciated  by  the  governments. 

"  Difficult  as  statistics  must  be — liable  to  the 
greatest  errors,  in  results,  by  the  smallest  errors  of 
fact  or  number — they  have  nevertheless  attained 
the  truest  proof  of  scientific  character,  namely,  that 
the  statisticians  can  predict.  Science  is  the  ascer- 
tainment of  laws  ;  the  knowledge  of  laws  enables  us 
to  foretell  results.  This  is  the  test  of  a  scientific 
theory — the  distinction  of  truth  from  speculation. 
And  this  the  statisticians  can  now  claim  in  a  remark- 
able manner.  They  can  tell  the  averages  of  births 
and  deaths  for  a  given  year  in  a  given  population, 
how  many  suicides,  how  many  misdirected  letters, 
etc.  And  they  can  thus  predict  without  denying 
the  moral  freedom  of  man,  for  freedom  itself, 
rightly  defined,  is  compatible  with  law." 
*  Editor  of  the  "  Liberal  Christian." 


Statistical  Exhibits.  517 

European  journals  have  lately  published  the  re- 
sults of  the  extensive  researches  of  M.  Bertillon,  of 
Brussels,  so  distinguished  in  this  department  of 
inquiry.  Elaborately  investigating  questions  of 
social,  domestic,  and  physical  ethics,  by  the  statis- 
tical classification  and  analysis  of  concrete  facts,  he 
has  demonstrated  that  marriage  is  favorable  to 
longevity  and  morality,  and  that  married  people 
are  less  liable  to  suicide,  assassination,  theft,  and 
insanity ;  thus  showing,  by  the  aid  of  figures,  a 
scientific  basis  of  morals,  and  attesting  the  truth  of 
Christian  morality. 

Modern  science  measures  material  forces,  sub- 
jecting even  the  more  subtle  elements  —  steam, 
gas,  heat,  light,  the  winds,  and  the  atmosphere — to 
accurate  registration.  We  have  noticed  the  great 
progress  made  in  collecting  and  classifying  statistics 
representing  moral  and  social  phenomena,  in  mak- 
ing generalizations  and  deductions  from  such  bases, 
and  determining  questions  of  moral  and  social 
progress.  Nor  is  the  realm  of  spiritual  religion  so 
hidden  and  intangible  that  it  is  impossible  to 
measure  the  forces  which  move  and  dominate  it ; 
for  it  has  its  exact  phenomena,  its  numerical  repre- 
sentations, its  distinctly  cut  channels,  its  streams  of 
varying  depth  and  velocity,  registering  water-marks 
all  along  their  pathways.  The  United  States  Cen- 
sus, the  Annual  Year  Books  and  Minutes  of  the 
American  Churches,  and  the  Annual  Reports  of 


5i8       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

the  various  organizations  connected  with  them, 
combine  with  increasing  care  and  exactness,  from 
year  to  year,  carefully  collected  data,  reliably  rep- 
resenting the  changing  phases  of  our  religious  life, 
and  enabling  us  to  determine  questions  of  religious 
progress.  No  department  of  statistical  inquiry  re- 
quires more  care  and  discrimination,  closer  attention 
to  incidental  and  collateral  facts,  or  the  application 
of  severer  crucial  tests.  But,  with  due  attention, 
impartial,  broad  analysis  and  rigid  synthesis,  reli- 
able conclusions  may  be  reached,  definitely  deter- 
mining the  religious  status. 

The  most  noticeable  objective  feature  of  apostolic 
Christianity  was  its  aggressive  impulse,  indicating  a 
powerful  latent  force.  The  facts  are  so  familiar  as 
to  need  little  repetition.  The  Pentecost  registered 
three  thousand  converts ;  the  close  of  the  first 
century,  five  hundred  thousand  ;  the  close  of  the 
third  century,  five  million.  The  conversion  of  Con- 
stantine  soon  followed,  and  Christianity  ceased  to 
work  from  a  purely  moral  and  spiritual  impulse,  its 
spread  being  henceforth  dependent  upon  the  civil 
power. 

The  reformation  under  Luther,  at  first  partly 
ecclesiastical  and  partly  spiritual,  soon  oecame  of  a 
more  mixed  character  in  the  great  political  revolu- 
tions it  inaugurated ;  and  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  ago  Protestantism  had  lost  its  aggressive 
spiritual  force.     The  Wesleyan  movement,  starting 


Statistical  Exhibits.  519 

in  1739,  and  closing  the  century  with  four  hundred 
and  fifty  preachers  and  one  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  communicants,  in  England,  inspired  new 
life  into  British  and  American  Protestantism  ;  but 
its  influence  was  not  much  felt  in  the  United  States 
until  near  the  close  of  the  century.  Some  persons, 
not  properly  informed  in  regard  to  this  matter,  con- 
sider the  progress  of  Protestantism  since  that  time 
as  small  and  feeble,  both  in  Europe  and  America, 
dragging  slowly  behind  the  growth  of  the  popu- 
lation. 

The  statistics  of  this  progress  presented  to  the 
public  have  been  for  the  most  part  fragmentary, 
lacking  completeness,  only  partially  covering  given 
periods,  or  failing  in  some  way  to  cover  such  points 
as  are  necessary  to  justify  clear  and  legitimate  de- 
ductions. It  is  to  be  regretted  that  for  some  of  the 
earlier  periods  in  the  history  of  Protestantism  no 
exact  statistics  are  now  obtainable ;  and  it  must  be 
confessed  that,  for  even  the  more  recent  periods,  we 
have  only  partial  statistics  of  Protestantism  in  Great 
Britain  and  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  must 
content  ourselves  with  incomplete  or  approximate 
statistics  and,  in  some  cases,  mere  estimates.  But 
the  estimates  are  such  as  have  been  made  by  those 
who  have  intelligently  studied  the  question,  and  are 
worthy  of  high  consideration. 

For  the  United  States,  however,  within  this  cent- 
ury, our  statistics  are  as  nearly  exact  as  can  reason- 


520       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

ably  be  expected,  and  have  been  derived  almost 
entirely  from  ofificial  sources — the  Year  Books  and 
Annual  Minutes  of  the  various  denominations,  and 
the  United  States  Census.  They  are  the  results  of 
some  years  of  extensive,  painstaking  study,  involv- 
ing much  correspondence  and  numerous  consulta- 
tions with  representative  men  of  the  Churches. 
Careful  discrimination,  also,  has  been  exercised ; 
collateral  facts  and  modifying  circumstances  have 
been  duly  considered ;  and  periods  selected,  for 
comparison,  as  free  as  possible  from  abnormal  in- 
fluences. 

As  to  the  relative  progress  of  Christianity,  com- 
pared with  the  total  population  of  the  world  in  for- 
mer centuries,  it  is  impossible  to  calculate.  No  trust- 
worthy estimates  of  the  total  population  of  the  earth, 
until  within  the  present  century,  can  be  found. 
Malte  Brun  (d.  1826)  estimated  the  whole  number 
to  be  six  hundred  and  forty-two  million,  and  M. 
Adrien  Balbi,  (d.  1848)  at  seven  hundred  and  thirty- 
seven  millions.  About  1850  it  was  commonly  reck- 
oned at  one  billion.  But  it  is  probable  that  all  these 
estimates  were  defective,  little  better  than  guesses. 
Sufficient  data  did  not  then  exist,  had  not  been,  and 
could  not  be,  collected,  for  a  satisfactory  basis  of 
calculation. 

"  Owing  to  the  progress  of  the  science  of  statis- 
tics," says  Professor  Schem,  "  the  population  of  the 
globe  can  now  be  estimated  with  a  degree  of  proba- 


Statistical  Exhibits.  521 

bility  with  which,  as  we  see  in  the  light  of  modern 
science,estimates  made  in  former  times  have  no  claim 
whatever.  All  of  the  countries  of  Europe,  with 
the  exception  of  Turkey,  most  of  the  countries  of 
America,  and  the  European  colonies,  with  a  num- 
ber of  independent  States  in  other  large  divisions  of 
the  globe,  from  time  to  time,  take  an  official  census, 
which  establishes  the  actual  population  with  a  cer- 
tainty, which,  it  seems,  leaves  hardly  any  room  for 
considerable  improvement.  ...  In  the  countries  in 
which  no  official  census  has  as  yet  been  taken,  the 
researches  in  regard  to  the  number  of  the  inhabit- 
ants made  by  learned  travelers  give  us  at  least  fig- 
ures vastly  superior,  in  point  of  trustworthiness,  to 
those  found  in  geographical  works  of  an  earlier 
date.  The  famous  geographical  establishment  of 
Perthes,  in  Gotha,  Germany,  has  for  several  years 
been  publishing  a  periodical  specially  devoted  to 
the  most  recent  information  relating  to  the  area  of 
all  the  divisions  and  States  of  the  globe,  where  the 
results  of  the  entire  literature  of  the  world  relating 
to  this  subject  are  carefully  garnered,  and  where 
every  figure  can  be  traced  to  the  source,  official  or 
inofficial,  from  which  it  has  been  derived." 

"  The  greater  accuracy  obtained  for  the  statistics 
of  populations  has,  of  course,  enabled  us  to  estimate 
more  correctly  the  population  professing  the  vari- 
ous creeds.  Most  of  the  states  include  in  the  cen- 
sus questions  one  in  regard  to  the  religious  profes- 


522       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

sion.  Where  this  is  not  done,  as  in  the  United 
States,  in  England,  and  Scotland,  most  of  the 
religious  denominations  publish  annual  accounts  of 
adult  membership,  of  number  of  Churches  and  min- 
isters, and  other  facts  from  which  inferences  as  to 
the  total  population,  which  more  or  less  is  influ- 
enced and  controlled  by  the  doctrinal  tenets  of  a 
particular  religious  denomination,  may  be  made. 
It  is  interesting  to  observe,  in  the  religious  statistics 
of  those  States  which  include  the  religious  profes- 
sion of  the  inhabitants  in  the  official  census,  the 
small  number  of  persons  who  avow  themselves  as 
atheists.  Thus,  in  Prussia,  which,  by  friends  as  well 
as  by  foes,  is  sometimes  looked  upon  as  the  El  Do- 
rado of  atheists  and  opponents  to  the  belief  in  a 
personal  God,  avowed  atheists  can  only  be  looked 
for  in  the  column  of  "  persons  of  unknown  relig- 
ions," who  number  4,495,  and  free  religions,  of 
whom  there  were  2,531.  Thus  no  more  than  about 
seven  thousand  in  a  total  population  of  24,600,000 
made  a  statement  that  might  cause  them  to  be 
looked  upon  as  atheists.  In  France  in  1891,  7,684,- 
906  persons  were  reported  as  indicating  no  religious 
preference,  out  of  a  population  of  38,000,000.  In 
the  Dominion  of  Canada,  according  to  the  official 
census  of  1881,  of  a  total  population  of  4,324,810 
not  a  single  person  was  reported  as  an  atheist  or 
as  a  deist,  and  2,634  had  no  religion.  Facts  like 
these  indicate  that,  however  large   the  number  of 


Statistical  Exhibits.  523 

persons  may  be  who  are  indifferent  in  religious 
matters,  or  have  discarded  a  belief  in  a  personal 
God  and  in  Christianity,  the  population  of  the 
Christian  countries  continues  to  be  almost  a  unit  in 
its  outward  connection  with  Christianity..  This 
includes  the  Christian  character,  more  or  less  ex- 
plicit, of  laws,  of  customs,  of  literature,  and  of  edu- 
cation. Thus  the  countries  of  Europe,  of  America, 
and  Australia  may  be  looked  upon  as  representa- 
tives of  the  Christian  religion  and  of  Christian  civil- 
ization to  as  high  a  degree  as  at  any  former  period 
of  their  history."  * 

With  these  preliminary  observations,  we  proceed 
to  notice  the  progress  of  Christianity  since  the  dawn 
of  the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

In  doing  this  we  have  rigidly  discarded  transient 
newspaper  statistics,  because  liable  to  many  inac- 
curacies from  misprint  and  otherwise,  and  have 
closely  adhered  to  official  documents  and  standard 
authorities.  Even  these  have  been  scrutinized  and 
compared,  and  personal  conferences  and  letters  have 
drawn  from  authors  and  compilers  necessary  attesta- 
tions and  explanations.  Many  items  of  statistics 
which  have  passed  current  have  been  thrown  aside, 
as  unworthy  of  confidence. 

Nevertheless,  notwithstanding  entire  accuracy  has 
been  laboriously  sought  for,  we  dare  not  affirm  that 
we  have  always  succeeded  in  attaining  it ;  but  the 
"Methodist  Quarterly  Review,"  Jan.,  1876,  pp.  154,  155 


524       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

figures  given  are  believed  to  be  close  approxima- 
tions, sufficiently  correct  to  enable  us  to  make  intel- 
ligent comparisons  of  religious  progress.  They  are 
the  best  available  exhibits.  The  variety  of  forms 
in  which  different  religious  bodies  prepare  their  sta- 
tistics has  occasioned  much  trouble,  and  prevents 
entire  uniformity  in  tabulating.  But  every  year 
brings  some  improvement,  and  before  another  dec- 
ade shall  pass  away  the  ecclesiastical  statistics  will 
furnish  materials  for  more  exact  study.  When  those 
who  have  the  care  of  ecclesiastical  year-books  and 
registries  come  more  distinctly  to  realize  that  every 
unit  figure  represents  an  immoKtal  soul,  they  will 
be  more  careful  in  their  work,  and  the  distrust  of 
Church  statistics  will  give  way  to  confidence. 


CHAPTER  11. 

RELiaiOIJS    PROG-RESS    ANi:) 
STATUS. 

PROTESTANTISM    AND    ROMANISM. 

In  Europe. 

In  South  America. 

In  Mexico. 

In  the  British  Dominion. 

In  Portions  of  the  U.  S.  formerly  Papal. 


Statistical  Exhibits.  527 


CHAPTER   II. 

RELIGIOUS   PROGRESS   AND  STATUS. 

PROTESTANTISM   AND   ROMANISM. 

STATISTICIANS  are  nearly  agreed  that  in  the 
^  year  1500  Europe  had  a  population  of  about 
100,000,000,*  all  Roman  Catholic,  except  the  major 
portions  of  Russia,  Turkey,  Greece,  and  the  Ionian 
Isles,  in  which  the  Mohammedan  and  Greek  relig- 
ions prevailed.  In  Central  and  Western  Europe 
there  were  few  who  did  not  hold  at  least  nominal 
relations  to  the  Church  of  Rome.  The  Waldenses, 
the  Hussites,  a  remnant  of  the  Lollards,  and  a  small 
number  of  Jews — all  combined,  scarcely  enough  to 
count  at  all  against  the  overwhelming  odds  of  the 
Papacy — were  the  only  exceptions.  Eighty  millions 
may  be  accepted  as  an  approximate  estimate  of 
the  Papal  population  in  Europe  and  in  the  whole 
world,  at  the  opening  of  the  century  which  intro- 
duced the  Lutheran  Reformation. 

Passing  over  the  intervening  periods,  for  which 
no  definite  basis  for  comparison  exists,  and  coming 
to  our  own  times,  we  find  the  population  of  Europe 
divided  in  respect  to  religions,  as  follows : 

*  Seaman's  "  Progress  of  Nations,"  p.  551. 


528      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Religious  Population  of  Europe. 


1500. 

1875.* 

iSgo.t 

Actual  Increase. 

Rel.  Inc. 

1875  to  1890. 

1500  to 
1890. 

1500- 
1875- 

1875 
-90. 

Total  pop. 

100,000,000 

309,000,000 

355,757-426 

46,758,426 

255,757,426 

% 
209 

IS 

Rom.  Cath. 
Protestants 
Greek  Ch" 

80,000,000 

No  appreci- 
able numb'r 

I4Q,000,000 

74,000,000 
75,000,000 

154,568,151 
87,925,139 
91,839,789 

5,568,151 

13,925,000 

16,839,789! 

74,568,151 
87,925,139 

86 
Gain 
74mil- 
Hons. 

3 

19 
22 

Jews • 

20,000,000- 

4,500,000 

7,254,257 

2,754,257  1- 

82,647,878 

330  ■ 

60 

Moham's. 

l 

6,600,000 

3,553,812 

Decrease, 

3,046,188] 

Dec 
so 

Unclassifi'd 

10,616,278 

Romanism,  starting  in  the  year  1500  on  a  basis 
of  about  eighty  millions,  has  not  quite  doubled, 
while  the  total  population  of  Europe  has  increased 
three  and  a  half  fold,  and  Protestantism,  starting 
nominally  from  unity,  has  gained  87,925,139,  which 
is  13,356,980  more  than  the  total  gain  of  Romanism. 

Within  the  last  forty-five  years  Protestantism 
has  made  large  inroads  into  the  Roman  Catholic 
countries  of  Europe,  laying  the  foundations  for  nu- 
merous Churches  and  communicants  before  another 
generation  shall  pass  away.  How  different  is  the 
condition  of  Romanism  in  France,  Italy,  Austria, 
and   Spain   from  forty  years  ago,  not  to  go  farther 

*  These  figures,  by  Professor  Scheni,  nearly  correspond  with  those 
in  Hubner's  Statistical  Tables  and  also  with  those  given  in  tlie 
"Catholic  Family  Almanac"  for  1S76.  See  also  " Encyclopcedia 
Britannica,"  article  "Europe,"  p.  713.  According  to  Bern  and 
Wagner,  in  1874,  the  population  of  Europe  was  309,178,300. 

\  Made  up  very  carefully  from  data  in  the  "  Statesman's  Year 
Book"  for  1894.     See  also  table  in  Appendi.\  (p.   747.) 


RKl.ICIOrS     I'olMI.A  I  ION    OK    KirKOI-K. 


^^^^^ 

Not 
knou  n. 

^   Konian  Catholu 
71    I'lniestant. 
~]  Cfruel;  (hurcli. 
H  Molianimedans. 

m  Jew.. 


TOTAL  POPULATION,  355,757.151. 


Statistical  Exhibits.  53 i 

back !  How  great  is  the  change  in  the  position  and 
influence  of  the  Pope  in  Italy,  shorn  of  his  temporal 
power,  and  with  Protestant  churches  under  the  very 
shadow  of  St.  Peter's ! 

Protestantisnn  has  numerous  missions  among  the 
papal  population  of  Roman  Catholic  countries. 

In  Ireland  eight  Protestant  missionary  societies 
are  operating ;  in  France,  eight  societies ;  in  Italy, 
Sicily,  and  Malta,  seventeen  societies;  in  Spain, 
Gibraltar,  Portugal,  and  Madeira,  nineteen  socie- 
ties; in  Canada,  nine  societies;  in  Mexico,  Central 
America,  and  South  America,  twenty-three  societies, 
making,  in  all,  eighty-four  distinct  Protestant  mis- 
sionary movements  among  Papal  populations.  A 
single  society,  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.,  has  in  Papal  lands 
9  stations,  69  out-stations,  31  American  laborers, 
64  native  laborers,  38  churches,  and  1,656  com- 
municants. All  these  missions  are  continually 
enlarging,  and  many  others  being  established. 
Roman  Catholic  countries  are  invaded  on  every 
side,  and  the  foundations  are  laid  for  vast  future 
movements. 

It  is  a  frequent  remark  that  Romanism  is  smitten 
with  decay  all  over  Europe.  The  populations  of 
Roman  Catholic  countries  have  had  meager  growths. 
Spain  and  Italy,  leading  populations  of  the  conti- 
nent in  the  year  1500,  arc  now  among  the  smaller, 
the  increase  of  both,  with  their  large  territories,  in 

three  hundred  and  eighty  years   being  only  about 
35 


532       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


two  thirds  of  the  increase  of  England  and  Wales, 
with  their  small  areas,  in  the  same  period.  Com- 
paring three  Papal  with  three  non-Papal  countries, 
we  have — Austria,  in  fifty-nine  years,  (1792-185 1,) 
increased  13,014,397;  France,  in  eighty-nine  years. 
(1762-185 1,)  increased  14,014,170;  Spain,  in  one 
hundred  and  eleven  years,  (i 723-1834,)  increased 
5,607,194;  total,  32,635,761,  in  an  aggregate  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty-nine  years:  but  Great  Britain,  in 
fifty  years,  (1801-1851,)  increased  11,675,271;  Prus- 
sia, in  sixty-three  years,  (1786- 1849,)  increased 
10,331,187;  and  Russia,  in  sixty-seven  years,  (1783- 
1850,)  increased  34,688,000;  total,  56,694,458,  in  an 
aggregate  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  years,  or  twen- 
ty-four millions  more,  in  seventy-nine  less  years, 
than  the  increase  of  the  three  Papal  nations.  The 
increase,  per  annwn*  was  : 


In  the  Papal  Countries. 
Austria,  .94  of  one  per  cent. 
France,  .72         "      "      " 
Spain,     .66         "      "      " 


In  the  non-Papal  Countries. 
Great  Britain,  r.48  per  cent. 
Prussia,  2.73     "       " 

Russia,  1.89    "      " 


The  tendency  of  Rome  is  to  dwarf  the  mind,  to 
beggar  the  nations,  and  repress  progress — the  oppo- 
sites  of  the  tendencies  of  Protestantism.  "  Through- 
out Christendom,  whatever  advance  has  been  made 
in  knowledge,  in  freedom,  in  wealth,  and  in  the  arts 
of  life,  has  been  made  in  spite  of  her,  (Rome,)  and  has 
every-where  been  in  inverse  proportion  to  her  power. 

*  For  a  fuller  exhibit  see  Appendix  Table   747. 


Statistical  Exhibits.  533 

The  loveliest  and  most  fertile  provinces  of  Europe 
have,  under  her  rule,  been  stink  in  poverty,  in  polit- 
ical servitude,  and  in  intellectual  torpor,  while  Prot- 
estant countries,  once  proverbial  for  sterility  and 
barbarism,  have  been  turned  by  skill  and  industry 
into  flourishing  gardens,  and  can  boast  of  a  long  list 
of  heroes  and  statesmen,  philosophers  and  poets."* 

When  the  "  Invincible  Armada  "  threatened  to 
overthrow  Protestant  England,  Spain  could  boast 
of  forty-three  millions  of  subjects.  Now  she  has 
only  seventeen  millions.  England,  Wales,  and 
Scotland  then  numbered  only  about  four  millions  ; 
but  in  1 89 1  the  population  had  reached  over  thirty- 
eight  millions,  besides  colonial  subjects  all  over  the 
world,  swelling  the  number  to  three  hundred  and 
fifty  millions,  and  their  wealth  has  centupled,  while 
Spain  has  become  impoverished. 

The  old  Concordat,  in  Spain,  is  repudiated,  and 
toleration  is  allowed.  In  Italy,  under  the  very  eyes 
of  the  Pontiff,  the  old  foundations  are  sliding  away; 
and,  as  Garibaldi  said  in  a  letter  not  long  ago, 
"  There  is  no  place  on  earth  where  the  Pope  is  less 
regarded  than  in  Rome."  For  seventy  years  Italy 
has  been  reviving,  for  the  first  thirty  years  slowly, 
and  the  last  forty  more  rapidly.  "  The  *  States  of 
the  Church,'  after  one  thousand  years  of  dark  pre- 
eminence, no  longer  appear  on  the  map  of  the  world. 
In    1870    the   various    States   and    Provinces   were 

*  Lord  Macaulay. 


534      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

united  under  one  crown,  and  Rome  became,  once 
more,  the  capital  of  united  Italy.  The  present 
government  affords  as  much  freedom  for  Protestant 
worship  as  any  other  in  Europe.  A  new  enlight- 
enment is  becoming  apparent.  Priestly  influences, 
long  hostile  to  education,  have  given  way  to  new 
forces.  The  Italian  government  energetically  in- 
troduced the  work  of  public  instruction,  made  a 
parliamentary  grant  of  one  million  sterling  for 
school  purposes,  and  added  to  it  the  greater  portion 
of  the  vast  revenues  of  2,400  monastic  establish- 
ments it  had  confiscated.  Education,  self-govern- 
ment, telegraphs,  and  railroads  are  working  an 
elevation.  From  the  windows  in  the  Vatican  the 
Pope  beholds  the  flag  of  the  reprobate  king  who 
rules  in  his  stead,  and  a  depository  of  Bibles  with 
its  eager  seekers  after  the  word  of  life." 

The  religious  results  in  Italy  are  beginning  to 
assume  tangible  numerical  forms.  In  1877  Father 
Gavazzi  said  :  "  Fifteen  years  ago  there  were  only  5 
Protestant  congregations  and  400  communicants  in 
all  Italy,  while  there  are  now  8,000  communicants 
and  about  41,000  hearers."  These  figures  do  not 
include  the  Waldensians  in  Northern  Italy.  In 
1879,  ^^  ^^^^  Evangelical  Alliance,  in  Basel,  Professor 
Comba  furnished  definite  data  of  these  Christian 
heroes  who  bear  "  the  scars  of  thirty  persecutions." 
The  Waldensians  number,  in  all  Italy,  56  churches, 
32  mission  stations,  about   15,000  communicants,  a 


Statistical  Exhibits.  535 

theological  school,  55  pastors,  50  teachers,  and  4,400 
Sunday-school  scholars.  The  Free  Cliurch,  founded 
in  1848,  has  8  congregations  and  30  stations.  The 
Free  Italian  Church,  beginning  in  1865,  has*  36 
churches,  35  missionary  stations,  15  pastors,  15 
lay-preachers,  1,800  communicants,  800  Sunday- 
school  scholars,  2,085  children  in  day-schools,  under 

21  teachers,  and  17  students  in  a  theological  sem- 
inary.    The  Wesleyan  Church,  formed  in  1861,  has 

22  pastors,  6  helpers,  6  evangelists,  1,350  communi- 
cants, and  704  Sunday-school  scholars.  The  Bap- 
tist Church,  established  in  1855,  has  9  pastors,  155 
members,  and  5  Sunday-schools.  The  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  begun  in  1873,  "ow  numbers  6 
pastors,  9  evangelists,  i  colporteur,  5  Bible  readers, 
and  709  communicants.  Seven  Protestant  denomi- 
nations, with  53  Protestant  schools,  are  represented 
in  the  City  of  Seven  Hills.  Later  statistics  show  in 
Italy  327  Protestant  mission  churches  with  27,375 
communicants,  by  14  different  Boards,  four  of  which 
have  9,083  pupils  in  their  day  schools.  This  work 
among  a  people  long  biased  against  Protestantism 
is  slow  but  encouraging. 

Crossing  the  Alps  into  Switzerland  we  find  Ro- 
manism declining.  It  has  decreased  to  two  fifths 
of  the  population.  But,  while  1,716,548  of  the 
2,933,334  inhabitants  are  Protestants,  within  the 
last  thirty-five  years  important  changes  for  the  worse 
*  Statistics  given  by  Father  Gavazzi,  November  28,  1880. 


536       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

have  taken  place  in  Swiss  theology.  It  has  become 
decidedly  rationalistic,  the  Churches  are  sparsely 
attended,  the  communion  service  is  sadly  neg- 
lected, and  divorces  are  painfully  numerous.  The 
Methodists  and  Baptists  are  penetrating  the  coun- 
try and  gaining  a  respectable  footing  among  the 
State  Churches.  The  new  leaven  is  a  good  omen. 
In  France,  the  hope  of  the  Papacy  after  the  loss 
of  the  temporal  power  in  Italy,  it  has  declined,  lost 
the  countenance  of  the  government,  and  each  suc- 
cessive election  reduces  its  influence  in  the  Cabinet 
and  in  the  Assembly.  France  is  becoming  one  of 
the  fairest,  ripest,  and  richest  fields  for  Protestant 
missions  in  the  world.  In  the  Republic  there  are 
692,800  Protestants.  They  have  had  to  contend 
with  great  embarrassments,  but  have  made  consid- 
erable progress  during  this  century.  In  1806  there 
were  only  171  Protestant  pastors,  and  the  Protest- 
ant Church  had  no  schools.  To-day  it  has  850 
pastors,  Alsace  and  Lorraine  not  included,  1,250 
Protestant  schools,  and  30  religious  journals.  The 
Reformed  Church  has  a  membership  of  560,000  ;  the 
Church  of  the  Augsburg  Confession,  80,000  ;  the 
English  Free  Church,  43  church  edifices  and  5,000 
members  ;  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Church,  28  pas- 
tors, 18  evangelists,  a  theological  seminary,  and  175 
preaching  places;  the  Baptist  Church,  12  native 
preachers,  8  Churches,  and  706  members.  Rev.  Mr. 
R6veiland  has  become  an  apostle  of  religious  prog- 


Statistical  Exhibits.  537 

ress.  A  new  work  has  been  inaugurated  in  Paris 
under  Mr.  and  Mrs.  M'AU,  extending  into  some 
outside  localities,  which  is  one  of  the  brightest 
omens  of  the  times.  During  a  single  year  not  less 
than  85,000  people  attended  the  services  of  these 
evangelists,  and  their  Sunday-schools  number  42,000 
scholars.  The  movement  is  under  the  protection 
of  the  government,  as  a  means  of  promoting  moral- 
ity among  the  laboring  classes. 

In  Bavaria,  until  recently  the  strongest  German 
center  of  Popery,  it  has  been  snubbed  by  the  civil 
authorities,  and  Protestantism  has  come  to  number 
nearly  one  third  of  the  population.  In  Austria  the 
influence  of  Rome  is  less  absolute,  and  Protestant 
worship  is  more  generally  allowed ;  but  within  a 
few  years  Bohemia  has  been  stained  with  the  blood 
of  martyrs.  In  Belgium  alone  does  Romanism  show 
much  vigor. 

The  following  table*  will  show  the  religious 
statistics  of  four  European  countries  : 

Co.NTK,HS.     p^,J-l„.  catlolics.  P-'--"'-  C?u?ch.     J--.       Others. 

Austria 23,895,413     18,934,000  442,000  2,814,0001,143,000      562,000 

Hungary 17,463,473       8,820,000  3,491,000  1,668,000      725,0002,644,000 

Bavaria 5,594,982       3.959,o77  i,S7J.863           53,885        10,134 

Belgium 6,115,355      6,181,355  10,000           4.000        

Total 53,069,223     37,894,432       5,514,863      4,482,0001,925,8853,216,134 

In  Germany  the  Papacy  has  suffered  a  kind  of 
self-defeat,  in  consequence  of  its  Jesuitical  attempts 
to  interfere  with  the  imperial  policy,  and  the  grow- 

•  Collected  from  tlie  "  Statesman's  Year-Book."     1894.     London. 


538      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

ing    Protestant    population    is    leaving   behind    the 
Ronic^i  Catholic. 

Protestant  Population.  Papal  Population. 

1867 24,921,000  14,564,000 

1875 26,718,823  15,371,227 

1890 31,172,350  17.674,921 

These  figures  show  a  Protestant  increase  of 
4,453,527  to  a  Roman  Catholic  increase  of  2,303,694 
since  1875. 

Proportion  to  1,000  Inhabitants. 

Protestants.  Roman  Catholics. 

1867 621  363 

1875 625  360 

1890 630  357 

Nevertheless,  very  radical  skepticism  reigns  su- 
preme in  some  classes  ;  Socialism  is  working  harm 
to  evangelical  religion,  and  the  skeptics  welcome' 
the  Roman  Catholics  as  a  means  of  helping  on  a 
general  disintegration.  But  there  are  also  hopeful 
indications.  The  unity  of  Protestantism  is  greater 
than  ever  before,  the  evangelical  sentiment  is  gain- 
ing in  the  universities,  and  the  Baptists  and  Meth- 
odists are  multiplying  their  churches  there,  promot- 
ing spirituality  and  a  new  life.  They  have  been 
looked  upon  with  distrust  by  the  older  communions, 
as  threatening  evil  to  the  State  churches  ;  but  they 
are  coming  to  be  favorably  recognized  on  account 
of  the  good  work  they  are  doing.  In  the  chair  of 
the  Basle  session  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  in 
1879,   Count  Bismarck-Bohlem  said,   that    "if  men 


Statistical  Exhibits.  539 

from  abroad  come  into  Germany  and  preach  a  pure 
Gospel,  and  the  people  are  attracted  toward  it,  they 
are  worthy  of  all  confidence,"  and  that,  "  if  the  State 
Churches  lose  their  power,  God  will  put  it  into  other 
hands." 

Roman  Catholicism  was  predominant,  a  hundred 
years  ago,  in  all  the  frontier  provinces  acquired  by 
Prussia  in  the  days  of  Frederick  the  Great;  but 
since  the  German  immigrants  have  widely  propa- 
gated the  Protestant  faith  in  these  districts,  the 
condition  is  changed. 

The  facts  of  religious  progress  in  Prussia  since 
1849  show  that  Protestantism  has  steadily  gained 
upon  Romanism.  The  statistical  bureau  of  Berlin 
has  recently  published  comparative  statistics  of 
Romanism  and  Protestantism  in  Prussia,  conclu- 
sively showing,  from  the  official  censuses,  that 
in  every  province  in  Prussia  Protestantism  is  in- 
creasing more  rapidly  than  Roman  Catholicism. 
The  same  is  reported  from  the  Grand  Duchy  of 
Baden. 

The  "Statesman's  Year-Book"  (London,  1881) 
says  of  Prussia :  "  Nearly  two  thirds  of  the  popula- 
tion are  Protestants,  and  one  third  Roman  Catholics. 
In  the  provinces  of  Prussia,  Pomerania,  Branden- 
burg, and  Saxony,  the  great  majority  are  Prot- 
estants; while  in  Posen,  Silesia,  Westphalia,  and 
Rhenish  Prussia  the  Roman  Catholics  predominate. 
In  the   new  provinces   annexed    to   the  kingdom  in 


540      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

1866,  the  Protestants  form  the  mass  of  the  popula- 
tion. There  are  a  few  members  of  the  Greek  Church, 
mostly  emigrants  from  Russia.  Jews  are  to  be 
found  in  all  the  provinces,  but  especially  at  Posen. 
At  the  census  of  December  3,  1864,  there  were  in 
the  kingdom  as  then  constituted  11,736,734  Prot- 
estants, being  60.23  per  cent,  of  the  total  popula- 
tion, and  7,201,911  Roman  Catholics,  equal  to  36.81 
per  cent.,  besides  262,001  Jews,  and  about  52,000 
adherents  of  other  creeds.  The  annexation  of  the 
new  provinces  after  the  war  of  1866  altered  the 
proportion  in  favor  of  the  Protestant  ascendency. 
.  .  .  Protestantism  is  otherwise  gradually  spreading 
among  the  population,  and  Roman  Catholicism 
decreasing." 

The  following  table  for  Prussia  will  be  helpful. 


Protestant       Percent.        Roman  Percent.       t^^,^      Percent.    Q^j^g^g 

Poyjulation.      of  whole.      Catliolic.  of  whole.      -^        '     of  whole. 

1864.  . 11,736,734   60.23      7-201,911  36.81      262,601       

1875.. 16,636,990  64.65  8,625.840  33.51  339,575   i8-2  56,000 

1885..  18, 244,405    64.4         9,621,763  33.9         366,575        12.9      85,727 

1890.  .19,230.376   64.2       10,252,708  34.2         372,058        12.4100,040 


Passing  to  Ireland,  we  discover  a  great  change  in 
its  population,  from  8,175,124  in  1841  to  4,704,750 
in  1891,  occasioned  chiefly  by  emigration.  Eight 
ninths  of  the  emigration  has  been  shown  to  be 
Roman  Catholic.  Instead  of  four  and  one  third 
Roman  Catholics  to  every  Protestant,  as  in  1841, 
there  are  now  only  three  and  one  seventh  for  every 


Statistical  Exhibits.  541 

Protestant.     The  proportion  of  Papists  and  Protest- 
ants to  the  whole  population*  has  stood  as  follows: 

1834.   1861.   1871.   1881.   1891. 

Roman  Catholics 80.9        77-9        7^-^       76.6       75.39 

Church  of  England 10.7        11. 8        12:7       12.3       12.75 

Other  Protestant  Churches.  .     8.4        10.3        10.7       11. i        11.21 

Total 100.        100.        100.        100.         99-35 

Relatively  Romanism  has  lost  and  Protestantism 
has  gained  4.3  per  cent.,  but  the  Papacy  holds  an 
immense  preponderance.! 

But  Roman  Catholics  console  themselves  for  their 
loss  on  the  Continent  and  in  Ireland  by  strong  as- 
sertions of  the  prosperity  of  their  cause  in  England;:}: 
and  the  Pope,  in  his  Allocution,  while  acknowledg- 
ing decline  in  other  lands,  has  referred  to  Protestant 
England  as  a  field  of  victory. 

What,  then,  are  the  relative  prospects  of  Roman- 
ism and  Protestantism  in  England? 

In  England  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  made 
some  progress ;  but  not  so  great  as  would  some- 
times seem  from  the  reports  in  the  newspapers. 
Her  gain  has  been  chiefly  from  the  transference  of 
her  population  thither  from  Ireland.  The  two  coun- 
tries, then,  must  be  considered  together,  in  order  to 
determine  whether  or  not  Romanism  has  gained. 

*  Jews  not  calculated. 

f  For  fuller  statistics  of  Romanism  in  Ireland,  see  Tables  XXVIII 
to  XXXI  in  the  Appendix. 

J  The  "Catholic  World,"  January,  1870,  said:  "We  have  cer- 
tainly gained  ground  in  Protestant  nations,  hut  probably  not  much 
more  than  we  have  lost  in  old  Catholic  nations." 


542      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

We  omit  Scotland  from  the  calculation,  because 
we  have  no  definite  statement  of  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic population  of  that  country  until  1891.* 

1851.         1871.  1891. 

Population  of  England  and  Wales  17,905,831      22,712,266      29,002,525 

Population  of  Ireland 6,574,278        5,411,416       4,704,750 

Total  of  England,  Wales,  and  Ireland. . ..      24,480,109      28,123,682      33,707,275 

Roman  Catholics  in  Ireland 5,378,949        4,141,933        3,547,307 

Roman  Catholics  in  England  and  Wales. .. .  758,800        1,000,000        1,500,000 

Total  R.  C.  in  Engl'd,  Wales,  and  Irel'd..        6,137,749       5,141,933       5,047,307 

Deduct,  leaving  non-Catholics 18,342,360      22,981,749      28,659,968 

In  the  above  table  the  statistics  of  the  Roman 
Catholics  in  England  and  Wales  may  appear  to 
some  too  small,  as  they  did  at  first  to  ourselves ; 
but  we  can  only  say  that  they  have  been  taken 
from  the  highest  English  authorities,  namely,  the 
"  Statesman's  Year-Book,"  and  "  Whittaker's  Al- 
manac," from  1880  to  1894,  and  the  "  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica,"  all  of  which  agree.  The  latter  work 
says  the  Catholics  in  England  and  Wales  in  1877 
were  "  barely  one  million  ;"  but  we  have  allowed  that 
number  in  187 1.  According  to  the  above  figures, 
in  185 1  the  Roman  Catholics  were  twenty-five  per 
cent,  of  the  whole  population  of  England,  Wales, 
and  Ireland  ;  in  1891  they  were  not  quite  fifteen  per 
cent.  In  the  three  countries  the  actual  increase  of 
the  non-Papal  population  was  over  ten  millions,  and 
the  actual  decrease  of  the  Papal  population  was 
over  one  million  in  forty  years. 

*  In  1891  they  numbered  365,000,  chiefly  immigrants  from  Ireland. 


Statistical  Exhibits.  543 

The  statistics  for  England,  Scotland,  and  Wales 
show  that  the  Roman  Catholic  churches  and  chapels 
increased  from  647  in  1850  to*  1,556  in  1890,  with 
a  corresponding  increase  of  priests,  and  even  larger 
increase  of  convents  and  monasteries. 

The  new  "Encyclopaedia  Britannica  "f  gives  a 
more  extended  and  thorough  statement  of  Roman 
Catholic  progress  in  England,  with  similar  results. 

"  It   is   stated    by    Hallam,  that   in  the    reign  of 
Queen   Elizabeth  the  Roman   Catholics   numbered 
one  third    of  the    entire    population;    but    the   ef- 
fect of   the  many  repressive    laws    enacted  against 
them  was,  that  at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  cent- 
ury, when    the  already  referred  to  religious  census 
of    1699   was    taken,    the    total    number   was    only 
27,696,  being  barely  one  half  per  cent,  of  the  pop- 
ulation.    It  is  estimated  that  the  number  of  Roman 
Catholics  in   England    had   increased  to    68,000  in 
1767,  being  about  one  per  cent,  of  the  population, 
and  that  it  stood  at  69,400  in  1780,  being  less  than 
one  per  cent.      On   the  basis  of  the  marriage   re- 
turns   of    the    Registrar    General,    the    estimated 
number    of    Roman     Catholics     in     England    and 
Wales  was    284,300   in    1845,   or   1.70  per  cent,  of 
the    population;    but    within    the    next    six    years, 
when  there  was  a  large  immigration  of  Irish,  the 
numbers  rapidly  rose,  and    at  the  end  of  1851    the 
total    number  of  Roman  Catholics  was  calculated 

*  See  Table  XXXIII  in  Appendix.      f  Article,  "  England." 


544      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

at  758,800,  being  4.22  per  cent,  of  the  population. 
The  numbers  kept  rising  till  1854,  when  there  were 
estimated  to  be  916,600  Roman  Catholics  in  En- 
gland and  Wales,  being  4.94  per  cent,  of  the  popu- 
lation ;  but  there  was  a  fall  after  this  year,  if  not  in 
numbers  yet  in  percentage.  The  calculated  number 
was  927,500,  or  4.61  per  cent.,  in  1861,  and  982,000, 
or  4.62  per  cent.,  in  1866.*  It  is  estimated  that  in 
the  middle  of  1877  the  number  of  Roman  Catholics 
in  England  and  Wales  had  barely  reached  one  mill- 
ion, being  a  less  percentage  than  in  1866,  and  about 
one  half  the  number  comprised  natives  of  Ireland 
with  their  families.  It  would  thus  seem  that  Ro- 
man Catholicism  has  not  been  progressive  in  En- 
gland for  about  a  quarter  of  a  century.  However, 
the  wealth  of  the  body  increased  very  greatly,  owing 
mainly  to  the  secession  of  many  rich  persons  ol 
both  sexes  to  the  Church,  which  led  to  a  vast  in- 
crease of  Roman  Catholic  places  of  worship.  They 
numbered  616  in  1853,  and  had  risen  to  1,095  in 
1877,  with  a  clergy  of  1,892." 

The  progress  of  Romanism  in  England  has  been 
from  Irish  immigrants  and  a  few  of  the  higher 
classes  of  English  society.  The  Tractarian  move- 
ment, from  which  Rome  has  reaped  a  small  har- 
vest, confined  to  a  class  of  scholarly  mystical  men, 
represented  no  reaction  toward  Popery  among  the 
English  people,  though   it  unquestionably  made  a 

*  See  Table  XXX,  Appendix. 


Statistical  Exiiir.iTS.  S45 

.reat  impression  upon  the  leading  ecclesiastics  in 
Italy,  who  thought  they  saw  in  it  the  vanguard  of 
a  vast  national  movement.      The  most  chimerical 
notions  prevailed  in  the  Vatican,  in  whose  eyes  the 
whole  English   nation  was  only  waiting  for  some, 
timely  word  to  call  them  once  more  to  the  spirit- 
ual jurisdiction  of  Rome.     Unfortunate  at  home,  a 
fugitive  from  his  own  city,  and  restored   only  by 
the  force  of  French  arms,  not  seeing  far  into  the 
various  phases  of  human   thought  and   character, 
the  Pope  flattered  himself  that  Heaven  was  about 
to  make  up  for  the  domestic  disasters  of  his  reign 
by  making  him  the  instrument  of  the  reclamation 
of  England  to  the  Papal  faith. 

Little  significance  did  the  Pope  see,  if  he  saw  the 
fact  at  all,  in  the  fact  that  at  least  five  sixths  of  all 
the  Catholics  in  England  were  Irish  by  birth  or  ex- 
traction.    The  gains  among  the  higher  classes,  and 
in  political  influence,  by  no  means  constituted  any 
loss  to  genuine  Protestantism.     The  religious  de- 
nominations, earnestly  Protestant -the  Independ- 
ents   Baptists,  Methodists,  Presbyterians,  etc.-no 
more  suff^ered   from   secessions  to  Rome  than  the 
same  denominations  in  the  United  States.      Only 
the  Church  of  England  felt  alarm  from  the  inroads 
of  Rome,  and  even  that  Church  was  only  relieved 
of  a  few  nobles  and  clergymen,  whose   Romeward 
tendencies    compromised    and     embarrassed     her. 
Upon    the    Protestant    character   of    England    the 


546      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

movement  exerted  a  beneficial  influence.  While 
the  privileged  classes  of  England  were  drawing 
nearer  to  the  most  conservative  and  backward- 
looking  power  in  Europe,  the  masses  in  England, 
as  in  Italy,  Spain,  Austria,  and,  indeed,  in  almost 
every  civilized  country  in  the  world,  were  moving 
forward  in  a  contrary  direction,  and  causing  to  the 
Church  of  Rome  losses  a  hundred  fold  greater  than 
her  gains  in  England. 

The  alarm  which  some  have  expressed,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  concession  of  some  of  the  English 
nobility  and  a  few  Ritualistic  clergymen  to  Popery, 
is  without  just  foundation.  '*  In  many  instances 
the  family  histories  would  show  some  ancestral 
mental  tendency  or  aberration,  adequately  explain- 
ing the  phenomena."  Such  eccentricities  are  ab- 
normal and  sporadic,  not  affecting  the  great  middle 
classes,  upon  whom  the  character  and  destiny  of 
the  nation  depend,  nor  the  laws  of  population,  of 
opinion,  and  of  progress,  before  which  Romanism 
is  doomed  the  world  over.  "  No  thinkers  are  more 
humbugged  than  those  who  suppose  that  because 
of  an  occasional  local  movement  of  Popery,  like 
that  in  England,  the  civilization  of  the  age  is  about 
to  give  way,  and  the  world  roll  backward.  The 
aberrations  of  the  very  planets  are  compensated 
and  rectified  at  last  by  the  general  laws  of  the 
7n^canique  celeste." 


Statistical  Exhibits.  547 

In  Papal  America. 

But  Roman  Catholics  have  confidently  asserted 
that  in  America  they  are  retrieving  their  waning 
fortunes.  The  most  clamorous  and  preposterous 
statements  of  Protestant  declension  and  Papal 
growth  have  been  made  by  Papists  and  various 
classes  of  skeptics.  The  recent  utterances  of  Mr. 
Froude,  in  the  "  North  American  Review,"  have 
been  not  the  least  remarkable,  but  are  characteris- 
tically inaccurate,  borrowed  largely  from  his  imag- 
ination rather  than  from  facts. 

Looking,  first,  at  the  whole  American  field, 
North  and  South,  we  notice  the  familiar  fact  that 
one  hundred  years  ago,  and  even  until  within  about 
fifty  years,  all  South  America  was  Roman  Catholic. 
Not  a  single  Protestant  Church  existed  on  that 
vast  continent,  unless,  perhaps,  in  Guiana.  But  in 
1872  sixteen  Protestant  missionary  societies  occu- 
pied 37  stations,  and  sustained  84  clerical  and  lay 
laborers  there.  Since  that  time  the  number  has 
been  increased,  and  within  twenty  years  that  re- 
doubtable apostolic  missionary,  Rev.  William  Tay- 
lor, has  projected  a  line  of  missions  all  along  the 
western  coast,  and  in  Brazil,  with  favorable  indica- 
tions. 

Less  than  a  generation  ago  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  in  Mexico  was  the  richest  ecclesiastical  es- 
tablishment in  the  world,  with  landed  property, 
36 


548      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

mortgages,  and  rents,  worth  $150,000,000,  besides 
untold  millions  invested  in  cathedrals,  church  edi- 
fices of  the  costliest  construction,  gold  and  silver 
vessels,  etc. ;  108  church  edifices  in  the  city  of 
Mexico  alone  were  worth  $50,000,000.  The  rev- 
enues of  the  clergy  were  large,  the  annual  income 
of-  the  archbishop  being  at  one  time  $130,000,  and 
of  eight  bishops  $400,000.  The  Roman  Catholics 
of  Mexico  repeatedly  contributed  *  of  their  ample 
means  to  aid  the  struggling  Catholics  of  the  United 
States  in  establishing  their  churches  among  us. 
But  this  vast  and  powerful  establishment  has  re- 
ceived a  stunning  blow,  from  which  it  can  never 
recover.  The  Inquisition,  with  its  horrors,  existed 
until  almost  within  a  half  century.  The  orders  of 
friars,  nuns,  sisters  of  charity,  and  the  Jesuits  have 
all  been  disbanded  and  abolished  in  Mexico,  and 
the  magnificent  churches  and  convent  buildings  for- 
merly occupied  by  those  orders  have  been  offered 
for  sale  by  the  general  government.  Since  1861  six 
distinct  Protestant  missions  have  been  established. 
Passing  to  the  North,  we  find  the  vast  region  of 
the  two  Canadas,  as  late  as  the  time  of  the  English 
Conquest,  wholly  Roman  Catholic,  and  about  a  fifth 
part  of  the  population  of  the  more  easterly  maritime 
provinces  of  the  present  British  dominion  was  also 
of  the  same  faith  : 

*"  History  of   Catholic    Church  in  the   United    States,"  pp.  355, 
356.     By  De  Courcy. 


Statistical  Exhibits.  549 

Popula-        Roman  Prolcst- 

tion.         Calliolic.  ant. 

In  1765,   The  Canadas 69,810  69,810  .... 

1111767,    Nova   Scotia li,779  1,718  9,961* 

"         New  Brimssvick  and  P.Ed. Isl.      1,196  152  1, 024! 

"         Cape  Breton 519  276  243 

Total 83,304     71,956         11,228 

Here  are  six  and  a  half  Roman  Catholics  to  one 
Protestant. 

In  1820,  according  to  Mackenzie's  "  Messenger," 
the  proportion  of  the  Roman  Catholics  to  the 
Protestants  was  as  19  to  7.  In  185 1  the  religious 
census  of  New  Brunswick  was  not  taken  ;  but  for 
the  remaining  provinces  of  the  present  British 
dominion  the  figures  were:  Roman  Catholics, 
983,680;  Protestants,  1,065,728;  not  given,  69,652  ; 
Jews,  354;  Mormons,  259;  or  10  Protestants  to  9 
Roman  Catholics.  In  1861  the  statistics  for  all 
the  provinces  were,  1,680,790;  Roman  Catholics, 
1,372,923;  Jews,  1,195;  Mormons,  iii;  not  given, 
35,542;  or  16  Protestants  to  13  Roman  Catholics. 
In  1 87 1  the  proportion  was  19  Protestants  to  14 
Roman  Catholics.  Tabulating,  we  have  the  follow- 
ing exhibit  : 

Roman  Catholics.  Protestants. 

185I 9S3.680  1,065,728 

1861 1,372,923  1,680,790 

1871 1,492,033  1.967,532 

1881 1,791,982  2,436,554 

189I 1,992,017  2,641,854 

*  Not  given,  100.  f  Not  given,  20. 


550      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


Relative    Progress. 

1765 I  Protestant  for  6|  Roman  Catholics. 

1820 I      "    "  2f   "      " 

1851 IjV    "    "  I  Roman  Catholic. 

1861 if^         "    "  I 

1871 7k  "    "  I    " 

1881 1.36    "    "  I    "      » 

1891 1.33    "    "  I    "      '1 

Here  are  decided  indications  of  the'  greater 
progress  of  Protestantism,  but  since  1871  the  com- 
petition between  Romanism  and  Protestantism  is 
quite  close.  Instead  of  only  10  Protestants  to  65 
Romanists,  as  in  1765,  there  are  now  26  Protestants 
to  19  Roman  Catholics. 

Fuller  statistics,  showing  the  actual  and  relative 
strength  of  each  denomination,  and  also  the 
churches  numerically  in  each  province,  according  to 
the  Dominion  census  of  April  6,  1891  : 


Roman  Catholics 1,992,017 

Presbyterians 755,326 

Anglicans 646,059 

Methodists 847,765 

Baptists 302, 565 


Lutherans 63,982 

Congregationalists 28,157 

Miscellaneous  creeds. .  .  108,013 

No  creed  stated *S9,355 


Total 4,833,239 

The  following  shows  the  numbers  of  the  leading 
denominations  in  the  several  provinces  according 
to  the  census  of  1891  : 


Pro\inces. 

Roman 
Catholic. 

Church  of      Presby- 
Eiiglanci.        terian. 

Methodist. 

Baptist. 

Ontario 

358,300 

1,291,709 

122,452 

115,961 

20,571 

20,367 

47,837 
13,008 

385,999     453,147 
75,472        52,673 
64,410      108,952 
43,095        40,639 
30,852        39,001 
23,619        15,284 
6,646        33,072 
14,166        12,507 

654,033 
39,519 
54,195 
35,504 
28,437 
14,298 
13.596 
7,980 

104,838 

7,991 
83,108 

79,634 

16,107 

3,090 

6,261 

1.546 

Quebec    

Nova  .Scotia 

New  Brunswick. .  .  . 

Manitoba 

British  Columbia.  .  . 
Prince  Edward  Isl.. 
The  Territories.  . .  . 

*  Including  Pagans. 


Statistical  Exhibits.  551 

Within  the  present  territorial  area  of  the  United 
States  there  are  large  sections  once  wholly  under 
the  control  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  The 
only  religious  occupancy  was  exclusively  Roman 
Catholic.  Rome  had  the  opportunity  of  shaping 
the  religious  life,  and  possessing  it  wholly.  It  is  a 
fair  inquiry,  What  is  the  relative  strength  of  Ro- 
manism and  Protestantism  in  these  regions  •'  Sta- 
tistics show  that  Protestantism  has  invaded  this 
territory,  once  exclusively  occupied  by  the  papacy, 
and  has  far  outrun  it  in  the  race  of  progress. 

Florida,  Texas,  New  Mexico,  and  California  were 
occupied  by  papal  missions  before  Protestantism 
gained  its  first  permanent  foothold  within  the 
original  United  States,  (and  they  long  continued 
under  the  religious  sway  of  the  papacy.)  In  Florida 
and  Texas  no  Protestant  Churches  were  planted 
until  within  the  present  century,  and  not  many  until 
within  fifty  or  sixty  years  ;  in  California,  not  until 
within  a  generation  ;  and  in  New  Mexico  not  until 
fifteen  years  ago.  In  the  gulf  region,  ancient 
Louisiana,  (comprising  the  whole  region  west  and 
north-west  of  the  Mississippi,)  Illinois,  Wisconsin, 
and  Michigan,  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  was  the 
only  religious  force.  The  Indian  missions  were  nu- 
merous, and  the  French-Indian  trading-posts  and 
forts  were  extensive.  Cahokia,  Kaskaskia,  the 
Wabash  region,  and  Detroit,  had  considerable  pop- 
ulations, some  of  the  settlements  dating  back  as 


552      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

far  as  the  founding  of  Philadelphia.  Rome  pre- 
empted this  large  field.  No  Protestant  Churches 
were  founded  in  Illinois  until  about  1800;  in  Loui- 
siana, Missouri,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  and  Michigan 
until  some  years  later ;  in  Wisconsin  and  Arkansas 
until  more  than  thirty  years  later;  in  Detroit  until 
1815;  and  in  St.  Louis  until  1818.  The  first  Prot- 
estant Churches,  in  many  localities,  encountered 
strong  Papal  prejudices  and  even  persecution. 
Maryland,  as  an  original  Papal  colony,  belongs  in 
this  list.     Such  was  the  beginning. 

What  progress  have  Protestantism  and  Roman- 
ism made  in  these  large  regions?  The  impartial 
statistics  of  the  United  States  census  tell  the  story. 

In  these  originally  Papal  regions  Protestantism 
had,  in  1870,  14,522  church  edifices,  and  Romanism 
1,187,  ot"  less  than  one  twelfth  as  many.  The 
Methodists  had  6,342  churches,  or  5^  times  as  many 
as  Romanism  ;  and  the  Baptists  3,948,  or  3^  times 
as  many  as  the  Roman  Catholics.  Since  that  date 
the  Protestant  churches  had  gained  still  more  rela- 
tively. 


CHAPTER  III. 

RELIGIOUS    PROGRESS  AND   STATUS  IN 
THE  UNITED  STATES. 

DIFFICULXIE       OF  XHi^:  SlXU,A.'riO?^. 

1.     THE    ACTUAL   PROGRESS. 

The  Evangelical  Churches. 

The  Liberal  Churches. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church. 

II.     THE    RELATIVE   PROGRESS. 

The  Churches  Compared  with  the  Population. 
The  Evangelical,    Liberal,  and  Catholic  Churches 

Compared  with  each  other. 
The  Churches  and  Higher  Education. 
Modern  and  Early  Christian  Progress. 
Encouraging  Conclusion. 


Statistical  Exhibits.  55s 


CHAPTER  III. 

RELIGIOUS  PROGRESS  AND  STATUS  IN  THE  UNITED 
STATES. 

"  I  ''HE  boast  of  Romanists  of  their  great  growth 
-*-  in  this  country;  the  frequently  expressed  fears 
that  the  Papacy  will  gain  the  ascendency  here ;  the 
oft-repeated  assertions  of  skeptics  that  Christianity 
is  being  outgrown  by  the  population,  and  is  des- 
tined to  be  left  behind  in  the  march  of  progress , 
the  impressions  of  some  that  the  "  Liberal " 
Churches  are  relatively  advancing  more  than  the 
"  Evangelical "  Churches  ;  the  misapprehensions 
and  despondency  of  some  good  people  in  regard 
to  the  condition  of  the  Churches  of  the  United 
States  ;  the  fact  that  here  Christianity  exists  under 
conditions  unknown  (purely  voluntary)  for  long 
centuries,  awakening  much  interest  and  inquiry 
among  European  divines  and  statesmen,  now 
pressed  with  the  question  of  Disestablishment ;  and 
the  great  intrinsic  importance  of  the  question  of 
religious  progress  in  this  country,  in  the  estimation 
of  those  who  believe  that  our  nation  and  its  Church- 
es sustain  an  intimate  relation  to  the  best  progress 
and  welfare  of  the  world, — these  are  reasons  which 


55^      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

prompt  to  a  closer  analysis  and  a  more  extended 
examination  of  the  growth  and  status  of  religion  in 
the  United  States.  Nearer  access  to  the  necessary 
data  favors  our  task,  and  enables  us  to  do  what  we 
could  not  do  in  our  sketches  of  religious  progress 
in  Europe. 

But  we  shall  fail  to  appreciate  the  growth  and 
present  position  of  American  Christianity,  unless  we 
first  briefly  consider  some  of  the  local  difficulties 
and  competing  forces  with  which  it  has  had  to  con- 
tend during  this  century. 

Consider  the  vast  extent  of  the  field  which  Chris- 
tianity in  the  United  States  has  been  called  to  fill 
and  provide  for,  religiously,  during  the  last  ninety 
years. 

The  immense  region  from  the  Alleghanies  to  the 
Pacific  has  been  opened  and  largely  occupied  al- 
most entirely  since  the  year  i8oo.  At  that  time 
there  were  probably  less  than  200  Church  organiza- 
tions in  this  vast  area,  of  about  2,500,000  square 
miles,  exclusive  of  Alaska,  equal  to  about  twelve 
times  the  area  of  France.  Five  eighths  of  the 
States  and  Territories  of  our  nation  have  been  or- 
ganized in  this  region,  and  Christianity  has  been 
called  upon  to  furnish  to  these  numerous  com- 
munities religious  institutions  and  watchcare,  and 
all  the  appointments  of  a  Christian  civilization.  As 
early  as  1870  there  were  in  this  trans  Alleghany 
territory   37,855    Protestant   Church   organizations, 


Statistical  Exiiibits.  557 

with  30,687  church  edifices,  vahicd  at  $97,183,492, 
besides  47,637  Evangelical  Protestant  Sunday- 
schools,  and  several  hundred  colleges,  universities, 
theological  seminaries,  and  academies,  founded  and 
sustained  by  the  Churches,  and  numerous  other  in- 
stitutions and  societies  incidentally  connected  with 
them  and  dependent  upon  them.  To  prepare  this 
great  work  has  severely  tested  tlie  pecuniary  re- 
sources, the  benevolence,  and  the  zeal  of  the  Amer- 
ican Churches.     Since  1870  the  growth  is  greater. 

Consider  the  unparalleled  increase  of  the  population 
of  the  United  States. 

In  1800  our  population  numbered  five  and  a 
third  millions,  in  1890  little  more  than  sixty-two 
millions,  a  twelve  and  a  fifth  fold  increase  in  ninety 
years,  probably  greater  than  in  any  other  country 
in  ancient  or  modern  times.  The  "  Compendium  of 
the  United  States  Census  for  1850,"  p.  131,  contains 
a  table  which  shows  the  growth  of  leading  Euro- 
pean nations  in  population  through  long  terms  of 
years.  Those  increasing  the  least  rapidly  gained  at 
the  rate  of  about  three  fourths  of  one  per  cent,  an- 
nually, and  the  nation  gaining  most  rapidly  increased 
at  the  rate  of  little  more  than  two  and  a  half  per 
cent.  (2.73)  annually  ;  but  the  United  States,  from 
1800  to  1850,  gained  eight  and  seventeen  one  hun- 
dredths (8.17)  per  cent,  annually  in  her  population. 
An  increase  of  57.316,337  of  people  in  ninety  years 
has  devolved  great  responsibilities  upon  the  Ameri- 


558      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

can  Churches.  To  religiously  care  for  these  rapidly 
multiplying  millions  has  seriously  taxed  the  activity 
and  zeal  of  the  religious  bodies. 

Consider  the  character  of  the  new  populations  added 
to  our  original  stock. 

If  these  new  additions  were  homogeneous  the 
case  would  be  much  more  favorable,  for  then  they 
could  be  more  easily  molded  and  saved  by  the 
American  Churches. 

To  go  no  farther  back  than  1850,  in  the  last  forty 
years  about  fifteen  millions  of  foreigners  have  been 
added  to  our  population.  Their  immediate  offspring 
are  at  least  seven  millions  more.  Twenty-two  mill- 
ions of  persons,  foreign  in  character,  ideas,  and  sym- 
pathies,have  thus  been  incorporated  into  our  national 
life  in  these  years.  During  this  period  the  total  pop- 
ulation of  the  United  States  increased  about  thirty- 
nine  millions,  of  which  twenty-two  millions,  or  four 
ninths,  almost  one  half,  were  essentially  foreign.  Of 
these  twenty-two  millions  not  less  than  three  fifths 
were  originally  Roman  Catholic.  Going  back  to 
the  beginning  of  our  history,  the  editor  of  the 
"Irish  World"  (July  25,  1874)  calculated  that  the 
original  Catholic  stock  entering  this  country,  and 
their  descendants,  if  all  had  remained  true  to  Ro- 
manism, would  make  (in  1874)  a  Roman  Catholic 
population  of  about  twenty-four  millions.  At  the 
present  time  they  would  number  over  forty  millions. 
Besides  these  there   have  been   other  adverse  ele- 


X)  I  .£^  3-  IS  -^  2v£    z-r  z-z  r . 
Waves  ui-    Im.m1(;kai  ion. 

Periods.  Nearly  Average. 

1 790-1 799  5,000 

1S00-1S09 7.000 

1S10-1S19 I  1,400 

1S2O-1S29 13.500 

1830-1S39 53.700 

1S40-1S44 3o,ooo 

1845-1S49 102,730 

1S50-1S59 279,900 

1S60-1864 139.337 

1865-1874 323.409 

1S75-1879 171,127 

18S0-1884 (J07.518 

1SS0-1S94   517,099 

'I'OTAL     I-MMU. NATION. 
1790-11111030,     '94,    17,654,400 

Lakgkst  in  a  Single  Npar. 

1881... 695,263 

1882 816,272 

1892 644,353 

S.MAI. LEST  Since  1879. 
'S94 311.404 


X)Xj&.a-I2..A,Iv£      2C2CIX. 

Relative  Immigration  from  Four  European  Countries — its  Drifts. 


1820-30 


Statistical  Exhibits.  559 

ments — communists,  nihilists,  rationalists,  and  skep- 
tics of  various  grades,  convicts,  and  paupers. 

A  goodly  number  of  exceptions  to  these  classes 
have  been  received,  from  the  British  Provinces  in 
North  America,  from  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  and 
from  the  European  Continent,  who  have  come  shoul- 
der to  shoulder  with  our  best  moral,  religious,  and 
philanthropic  forces,  in  all  good  labors.  All  honor 
to  such.  But  the  major  portion  have  been  very  dif- 
ferent. Large  numbers  have  come  from  the  prisons 
and  pauper  houses  of  Europe  to  fill  up  the  ranks 
of  our  social  outcasts.  From  a  late  report  of  the 
Howard  Society,  of  London,  it  appears  that  "  seven- 
ty-four per  cent,  of  the  Irish  discharged  convicts 
have  found  their  way  to  the  United  States."  This 
large  influx  of  foreign  criminals,  added  to  our  own 
dangerous  classes,  has  militated  severely  against 
the  public  weal. 

The  major  part  of  these  new-comers  have  been 
not  merely  heterogeneous,  but  positively  antago- 
nizing forces — largely  anti-Protestant,  anti-Sabbath, 
anti-Bible,  and  anti-temperance — and  have  assailed 
this  young  Republic  in  the  experimental  period  of 
its  existence.  The  infusion  of  such  large  adverse 
elements  into  our  national  life  has  occasioned  a 
severe  strain  upon  public  virtue,  and  enhanced 
the  labors  and  responsibilities  of  the  Protestant 
Churches. 

Such  have  been  some  of  the  disadvantages  under 


560       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

which  the  Protestant  Churches  of  the  United  States 
have  prosecuted  their  work.  What  has  been  the 
progress  .'* 

The  question  of  progress  will  be  considered  in  a 
twofold  form  :  actual3.nd  relative.  The  Evangelical 
Protestant  Churches  will  be  selected  first,  because 
they  historically  and  numerically  constitute  the 
leading  religious  force  of  the  country  ;  *  next,  the 
Churches  commonly  designated  as  Liberal;  and  then 
the  Roman  Catholic.  The  actual  progress  of  each 
will  be  first  considered  ;  then  their  relative  prog- 
ress, as  compared  with  the  population,  with  each 
other,  and  with  the  progress  of  higher  education. 

I. — The  Actual  Progress. 
Since  the  year  1800  the  most  remarkable  progress 
has  been  made  by  the  Protestant  Churches  of  the 
United  States,  far  exceeding  any  thing  ever  seen 
elsewhere,  even  in  the  apostolic  era.  The  exhibit 
of  this  progress  is  truly  wonderful.  In  preparing 
and  stating  it,  great  care  and  research  have  been 
exercised,  that  it  may  be  worthy  of  the  fullest  con- 
fidence. In  making  the  comparisons,  periods  have 
been  selected  furnishing  the  most  full  and  reliable 
data,  and  abnormal  periods  have  been  excluded. 

*  This  classification  is  made  for  this  additional  reason,  that  the 
Evangelical,  the  Liberal,  and  the  Roman  Catholic  Churches  stand 
before  the  public  as  competing  forces  ;  and  the  public  mind  has  long 
been  accustomed  to  make  comparisons  between  them. 


Statistical  Exhibits.  561 

Church  Organiztxtions,  Edifices,  Sittings,  and  Valua- 
tion in  the  United  States. 

In  the  Appendix  will  be  found  four  tables  giv- 
ing these  items  in  full.  These  matters  were  not 
reported  in  the  census  for  1880.  Nor  were  the 
statistics  of  Church  organizations  ever  reported  ex- 
cept in  the  censuses  of  1870  and  1890.  In  the  year 
1870  much  difficulty  was  found  in  collecting  the 
Church  statistics,  and  some  of  them  were  very  un- 
satisfactory, as  will  be  seen  by  referring  to  the  foot- 
notes in  the  census  volumes  for  that  year.  In  1850 
to  1870  the  Christians  and  the  disciples  were  com- 
bined, and  the  Dunkards,  the  Mennonites,  and  the 
Winebrennarians  were  reported  with  the  Baptists. 
Since  the  census  for  1870  a  large  number  of  new 
church  organizations  have  appeared,  and  the  labor 
of  collecting  and  tabulating  the  data  has  been  enor- 
mous. But  in  the  last  census  it  has  been  well  and 
carefully  done,  so  that  the  Church  census  for  1890 
will  probably  be  accepted  as  a  great  improvement 
upon  those  which  preceded  it. 

The  denominations  have  been  classified  in  this 
volume  according  to  the  method  adopted  in  pre- 
vious editions,  and  was  to  indicate  the  trend  of 
religious  sentiment. 

Church   Organizations. 

1870.  1890. 

Evangelical 69,701  151,172 

Non-Evangelical 1.442  3,229 

Non-Christian 189  624 


562      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Church  Organizations  (Continued). 


ia7o. 


Roman   Catholic 41I27  10,231 

Other  Catholic ....  31 

Total  Catholics 4,127  10,262 

Aggregate 72,459  165,287 

In  1870  there  was  one  Church  organization  for  532  iniiabitants. 

In  1890  there  was  one  Church  organization  for  378  inhabitants. 

In  1870  the  Evangelical  Church  organizations  were  0.92  per  cent. 
of  the  whole  number  of  churches. 

In  1890  they  were  0.914  per  cent,  of  the  whole  number  of 
churches. 

Taking  individual  churches,  the  Baptist  (all  kinds) 

organizations  were  : 

In  1870,  0.218  per  cent,  of  the  whole  number  of  churches. 
In  1890,  0.261        "  "  "  "  " 

The  Congregational  organizations  were: 

In  1870,  0.039  ps''  cent,  of  the  whole  number. 
In  1890,  0.029       "  "  "  " 

The  Episcopal  organizations  were  : 

In  1870,  0.039  per  cent,  of  the  whole  number. 
In  1890,  0.031        "  "  "  " 

The  Lutheran  (all  kinds)  organizations  were : 

In  1870,  0.042  per  cent,  of  the  whole  number. 
In  1890, 0.052       "  "  "  " 

The  Methodist  (all  kind.s)  organizations  were: 

In  1870,  0.348  per  cent,  of  the  whole  number. 
In  1890,  0.312        "  "  "  " 

The  Presbyterian  (all  kinds)  organizations  were : 

In  1870,  0.107  per  cent,  of  the  wliole  number. 
In  1890,  0.081       "  "  "  " 


Statistical  Exhibits.  563 

The  Roman  Catholic  organizations  were  : 

In  1870,  0.059  P^i'  cent,  of  the  whole  number. 
In  1S90,  0.062       "  "  "  " 

Church  Edifices. 
Referring   to   Table   XIV   we   have    the   church 
edifices  for  1850,  i860,  1870,  and  1890,  from  which 

we  take  the  following  summaries  : 

1850.  i860.  1870.  1890. 

Evangelical 35,670  50,343  57.940  131.400 

Non-Evangelical...         823  1,039  1,184  2,074 

Non-Chiislian 36  77  152  349 

Roman  Catholics. .  .      1,222  2,550  3,806  8,776 

Other  Catholics.  ...        ....  ....  ....  40 

Aggregate 37.751       54,009      63,082       142,639 

Proportion   of  church   edifices   for  the  people  of 
the  United  States  : 

In  1850,  one  church  for  614  inhabitants. 

In  i860,  "    "   "  578 

In  1870,  "    "   "  611 

In  1890,  "    '    "  438    " 

It  appears  that  during  the  decade  of  the  civil 
war  the  relative  number  of  the  churches  diminished 
a  little,  but  during  the  last  twenty  years  the  provis- 
ion has  increased  far  beyond  any  former  period. 
Considering  the  three  divisions  of  the  Christian 
forces,  we  find  them  relatively  to  each  other  in  the 
number  of  the  churches  as  follows  : 
Per  cent,  of  the  Whole  Number  of  Churches  in  Each  Class. 

1850.  i860.  1870.  iSgo. 

Evangelical 0.944  0.932  0.919  0.921 

Non-Evangelical  and  Non-Christian..  .   0.024  0.021  0023  0.017 

Roman  Catholic 0.032  0.047  0.060  0.062 

Total i.ooo     i.ooo    i.ooo     i.ooo 

37 


564      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

The  non-Evangelical  and  the  non-Christian 
Churches  combined  have  lost  a  little  relatively  to  the 
population.  The  Evangelical  Churches  lost  a  little 
from  1850  to  1870,  and  since  1870  have  gained 
slightly.  The  Roman  Catholic  Churches  have 
steadily  gained,  but  are  only  .062  per  cent,  of  the 
whole  number;  and  yet  it  should  be  stated  that 
they  have  two,  three,  and  four  audiences  each  Sun- 
day, made  up  mostly  of  different  people.  The  same 
thing  is  also  true  of  the  Protestant  Churches,  though 
not  so  largely. 

The  per  cent,  of  the  whole  number  of  the  church 
edifices  owned  by  each  of  six  leading  bodies  of  Evan- 
gelical denominations  is  a  topic  of  some  interest. 
They  are  as  follows : 

1850.   i860.   1870.   1890. 

Baptists  (all  bodies) 0.251  0.225  0.221  0.265 

Congregationalists 0.045  0.041  0.043  0.033 

Episcopal,  Protestant 0.038  0.039  0.043  0.036 

Lutherans  (all  bodies) 0.032  0.039  0.044  0.047 

Methodists   (all  bodies) 0.349  0.368  0.368  0.323 

Presbyterians  (all  bodies)....  0.127  0.118  0.112  0.088 

In  1850  the  Evangelical  Church  edifices  were 
0.945  per  cent,  of  the  whole  number  of  churches. 

In  i860  they  were 0.932  per  cent,  of  the  whole. 
In  1870         "  0.918       "  "  " 

In  1890         "  0.921       '*  "  " 

Calculating  again  in  the  same  way,  we  find  the 
Roman  Catholics  had  0.03 1  percent,  of  the  whole 
number  of  the  church  organizations  in  1850: 


iDX-A-cs-iEe-A-^r    2Z25:ixi. 


Church  Accommddai  ions  in   Umtkd  States  in   iSgo. 


Total   Population,  «'<!,« a '.i,'^5<). 


Not  provided   for 30  per  cent. 

Evangelical  sittings 63         " 

Roman  Catholic  and  Non-Evan.     7         " 
Total 100        " 


Statistical  Exhibits.  567 

In  i860,  0.046  per  cent,  of  all  the  church  edifices. 

In  1870,  0.060       "  "  " 

In  i8go,  0.061       "  "  "  " 

Let  the  total  churches  be  represented  by  100 
per  cent,  and  we  have  the  following  exhibit : 

1850.    i860.    1870.    1890. 

Evangelical 0945         0.932         o.gi8         0.921 

Roman  Catholic. . . .  0.031         0.046         0.060         0.061 
Non-Evangelical.  .  .  .  0.024         0.022         0.022         0.018 

Church  Sittings  or  Accommodations. 

By  referring  to  Table  XIV  the  capacity  of  the 
church  edifices  will  be  seen.  Of  this  provision  for 
the  public  need  we  make  a  brief  analysis: 

1850.       i860.      1870.      1890. 

Evangelical 13,173,179  17,276,103 

Non-Evangelical.        374,812  413,802 

Non-Christian...  18,371  34.412 

Roman  Catholics.        667,863  1,404,437 

Other  Catholics 


19,112,515 

39,414,250 

488,768 

693,250 

73.265 

139.434 

1. 990.514 

3.365.754 

9.153 

Aggregate..    14,234,825     19,128,754     21,665,062     43,621,841 

The  church  accommodations  for  the  whole  peo- 
ple are  indicated  by  the  following  figures  : 

In  1850  there  were  sittings  for  61  per  cent,  of  the  whole  population. 
In  i860  "         "  "      60       "  "  "  " 

In  1870  "         "  "       56       "  "  "  " 

In  1890  "  "  "       69/5   "  "  "  " 

While   this   provision  declined  from  60  per  cent. 
to  56  per  cent,  during  the  decade  of  the  civil  war, 


568      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

it  has  since  increased  from  56  per  cent,  to  6g^^,  going 
far  beyond  any  previous  period. 

It  is  an  interesting  point  to  notice  what  per  cent, 
of  the  whole  population  of  the  country  is  provided 
with  sittings  by  each  one  of  seven  large  religious 
bodies.     The  next  table  will  show  this : 

1850.   i860.    1870.    1890. 

Baptists  (all  kinds).  .  .  .  0.142  0.129  0.113  0.185 

Congregationalists  . . . .  o  034  0.030  0.029  0.025 

Episcopalians 0.027  0.027  0.026  0.022 

Lutlierans  (all  kinds).  .  0.023  0.024  0.025  0.032 

Methodists  (all  kinds). .  0187  o.igg  0.17  0.20 

Presbyterians  (all  kinds)  0.090  0.081  0.07  0064 

Roman  Catholics 0.028  0.044  0.051  0.053 

The  percentage  of  the  actual  church  sittings 
owned  by  each  of  seven  leading  religious  bodies  : 

1850.    i860.    1870.    1890. 

Baptists  (all  kinds). .  . .   0.232  0.211  0.201  0.266 

Congregationalists 0.057  0.050  0.051  0.036 

Episcopal 0.045  0.044  0.046  0.032 

Lutheran  (all  kinds).  .  .   0.038  0.039  0.045  0.052 

Methodists  (all   kinds).   0.305  0.327  0.301  0.295 

Presbyterians  (all  kinds)  0.146  0.134  0.125  0.093 

Roman  Catholics 0.047  0.073  0.092  0.077 

The  Baptists  have  a  little  over  a  quarter  (26  per 
cent.)  of  all  the  sittings,  and  gained  6  per  cent, 
upon  their  relative  number  in  1870,  but  only  about 
3  per  cent,  on  that  for  1850.  The  Methodists  about 
held  their  relative  place  since  1850,  but  fell  off  a  lit- 
tle since  i860,  yet  they  still  hold  30  percent,  of  the 
whole   number  of    church   sittings   in    the   United 


X)i.A.a-se.A.ivi    2S22:i-v. 


Valla rioN  of  Cm  kcii   pRurERiY,  1S90. 


Total,    $(>79,6d-l,43». 


l-".vangelical  Clunclies $527,093,103 

Roman  (."alliolic  Cluuclies  ....      118,069,746 
.Ml  others 34-531,59° 


Statistical  Exhibits.  571 

States.  The  Roman  Catholics  hold  about  7  per 
cent,  of  all  the  church  sittings,  but  fell  behind  rela- 
tively since  1870  nearly  2  per  cent.  But  they  are 
3  per  cent,  more  than  their  relative  number  in  1850. 
Taking  four  large  Evangelical  Protestant  denom- 
inations and  we  have  an  instructive  exhibit  for  1890: 

Sittings. 

Baptists  (all   kind>) 1 1.599.534 

Lutherans  "        "       2,205,635 

Methodists"        "       12,863,178 

Presbyterians  (all    kinds) 4,038,650 

Total  (four  bodies) 30,706,997 

The  four  large  bodies  hold  49  per  cent,  of  all  the 
church  sittings,  the  Roman  Catholics  5  per  cent., 
and  the  other  non-Evangelical  bodies  .01^  per 
cent. 

Valuation  of  CJuirch  Property. 

By  referring  to  Table  XIV,  the  reader  will  find 
the  valuation  of  church  property : 

1850.              i860.               1870.  1890. 

Evangelical  .  .  .$72,354,909  $135,033  30o  $274,654,281  $527,093,103 
Non-Ev'ngelic'l  5,298,518  8,455,211  13,688,500  24,413,095 
Non-Christian.  418,600  1,135,300  5.155,234  9,816,875 
Rom.  Catholics.  9,256,758  26,774,119  60.985,566  118,069,746 
Other         "  301,620 

Aggregate. $87,328, 801  $171,397-932  $354,483,581  $679,694,439 

The  church  property  is  valued  at  $10.85  per 
capita  for  the  whole  population  of  the  country. 


572      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

In  1 870  it  was $9. 1 1  per  capita. 

In  i860  "   5.45 

In  1850  "   3.76   " 

This  is  a  very  considerable  relative  advance — a 
threefold  increase  per  capita  reckoned  on  the  whole 
population. 

Taking  three  competing  classes  of  Churches  and 
we  find  how  they  relatively  progressed  in  church 
property  from  1850  to  1890: 

Total  population  increased 170  per  cent. 

Evangelical  Cliurch  property 642  " 

Non-Evangelical  Church  property 360  " 

Roman  Catholic         "  "         1175  " 

Total  Church  property 726  " 

What  part  of  the  total  church  property  have 
the  Evangelical  Churches,  the  non-Evangelical 
Churches,  and  the  Roman  Catholics  respectively 
held  in  the  several  periods? 

1850.  t86o.  1870.  1890. 

Evangelical  Churches.  .   0.82  0.78  0.77  0.77 

Non-Evangelical  "      .  .   0.06  0.05  0.04  0.035 

Roman  Catholic   "      ..   0.105  0.156  0.175  0.173 

Take  six  leading  denominations,  and  we  find  the 
percentage  of  the  whole  church  property  each  of 
them  has  held  since  1850: 

1850.  1S60.  1870.  iSgo. 

Baptists  (all  kinds) 0.128  0.123  0.117  0121 

Congregationalists 0.091  0.077  0.071  0.065 

Episcopalians 0.13  0.126  0.103  0.121 

Lutherans  (all  kinds)..   0.033  0.031  0.042  0.051 

Methodists       "           ..  0.169  0.193  0.197  0.193 

Presbyterians  "           ..  0.166  0.156  0.151  0.139 


Statistical  Exhibits.  573 

Ministers. 
The  following  is  the  number  of  ordained  minis- 
ters of  the  Evangelical  Churches  : 

In  1775 1.435      In  1S70 47,609 

In  1800 2,651    In  iSSo 69,870 

In  1850 25,555    1111890 98,085 

Besides,  there  are  9,181  Roman  Catholic  priests, 
3,770  ministers  in  the  non- Evangelical  Churches, 
and  over  50,000  local  preachers,  licentiates,  etc. 
Total  ordained  ministers  in  United  States,  111,036. 

Su  nday-  Schools. 
This  great  religious  agency,  one  of  the  most  act- 
ive, conspicuous,  and  im.portant  in  our  times,  is 
wholly  the  product  of  a  century.  Founded  in  En- 
gland  in  its  distinctive  character,  1780-84,  a  few 
organizations  only  were  effected  in  the  United 
States  prior  to  1800;  so  that,  in  this  country,  it 
may  be  said  to  be  the  work  of  the  past  eighty 
years.  For  1830,  the  "  American  Quarterly  Regis- 
ter "  gave  the  number  of  Sunday-school  scholars  in 
the  United  States  570,000.  The  statistics  for  the 
United  States,  in  1880,  as  prepared  by  Mr.  E.  Pay- 
son  Porter,  Statistical  Secretary  of  the  International 
Sunday-School  Convention  for  the  United  States 
and  the  British  American  Provinces,  are  as  follows : 
Sunday-schools,  82,261  ;  teachers,  886,328  ;  scholars, 

6,623,124;  total,  7,509,452- 

The  following  figures  in  reference  to  the  Sunday- 
schools  in   this  country    and    in    the    world    were 


574      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

given  at  the  recent  meeting  (1891)  of  the  Interna- 
tional Sunday-School  Committee:  Number  of 
schools  in  the  United  States,  121,977  ;  officers  and 
teachers,  1,303,254;  scholars,  9,688,506;  total, 
II,  II 3, 5  5  7.  In  the  whole  world  there  are  :  Schools, 
224,563  ;  officers  and  teachers,  2,239,738  ;  scholars, 
20,268,923  ;    total,  22,732,224. 

Evangelical  Communicants. 

Until  1890  the  United  States  Census  has  never 
included  the  communicants  of  the  Churches,  and 
the  only  sources  from  which  they  could  be 
obtained  were  the  Minutes  and  Year-Books  of  the 
Churches.  For  the  former  periods  they  have  been 
collated  and  tabulated  with  great  expense  and 
labor.  See  full  tables  in  the  Appendix  of  this  vol- 
ume. 

Communicants.  Increase. 

In  1800 364,872  

In  1850 3,529,988  3,165,116 

In  1870 6,673,396  3,143,408 

In  1880 10,065.963  3,392,567 

In  1890 13,823,618  3,757,655 

In  1894* 14,818,391  

.  These  are  remarkable  gains.  It  will  be  noticed 
that  the  gains  from  1870  to  1890  were  7,150.223 — 
moi'e  than  the  whole  number  in  1870. 

*  A  portion  of  the  statistics  could  not  be  obtained  for  1894.  They 
are  chiefly  for  1893  and  1894,  but  some  are  for  1890,  as  given  in  the 
United  States  Census.  The  full  figures  for  1S94  would  exceed  fif- 
teen millions. 


Statistical  Exhibits.  575 

The  gain  of  over  14,453-519  i"  the  last  ninety-four 
years  is  a  stupendous  record  of  religious  progress, 
without  a  parallel  in  any  former  times. 

For  the  first  time  in  history  the  statistics  of 
the  communicants  of  non-Evangelical  and  Roman 
Catholic  bodies  were  obtained  in  the  United  States 
Census  of  1890.  An  effort  was  made  to  get  the  sta- 
tistics for  1894,  but  the  general  reply  to  our  inquiries 
was,  "About  the  same  as  in  the  United  States  Census 
tables  for  1890."  But  the  Unitarians,  Universalists, 
and  Roman  Catholics  are  from  their  Year-Books 
for  1894.  See  Table  VI  in  the  Appendix.  The 
summary  for  1890  is  as  follows: 

Ministers.  Churches.  Members. 

Non-Evangelical  bodies 3. 77°  4.463  538,753 

Roman  Catholics 9.157  10,231  6,231,417* 

Other  Catholic  Churches 24  31  25,119 


Total 12,951        14,725      6,795,289 

The  "  Liberal  "  Churches. 
The  Year-Books  of  these   denominations  furnish 
the  following  statistics  of  parishes : 

*Dr.  H.  K.  Carroll,  Superintendent  of  the  Religious  Census  of 
the  United  States  for  1890,  obtained  from  the  Roman  Catholics  a 
statement  of  the  number  of  their  communicants— that  they  were  85 
per  cent,  of  their  whole  Roman  Catholic  population,  namely, 
6,231,417.  But  their  whole  population  as  given  in  "  Hoffman's 
Catholic  Almanac  and  Directory  "  for  1891,  which  are  the  figures 
gathered  in  1890,  is  8,570,966,  and  85  per  cent,  of  this  number  is 
7,292,971.  But  the  figures  given  in  the  United  States  Census  are 
accepted  and  used  in  this  book. 


576      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


1S70.    1S80. 


Unitarian 230         246         254       328 

Universalist.  . . .    853      1,069     1,264      917 
New  Jerusalem.      20       ....  38     .... 


335 

445 

956 

1,012 

93 

354 

Total 1,103     1,315      1,556    1,245    1,384      1,611 

Many  persons  connected  with  these  three  bodies 
are,  doubtless,  Evangehcal  Christians,  but  it  is  im- 
possible for  us  to  discriminate  in  these  statistics.  As 
denominations,  they  are  distinct  from  the  Evangel- 
ical Churches.  Great  pains  have  been  taken  to  ob- 
tain the  above  data,  and  every  thing  has  been  col- 
lated from  official  sources.  The  footings  show  an 
increase  of  453  parishes  from  1840  to  i860,  and  an 
increase  of  55  parishes  since  i860,  there  being  now 
508  more  than  in  1840.  The  Unitarians  and  the  New 
Church  have  gained  307  parishes  since  i860;  but 
the  Universalists  have  lost  252. 

^^  Liber aF'  CJiurcJi  Edifices. 

The  United  States  Census  gives  the  following 
summaries: 

1850.  i860.  1870.  1890, 

Unitarian 245  264  310  424 

Universalist 530  664  602  832 

New  Jerusalem 21  58  61  88 

Spiritualist 17  22  30 

Total 796  1,003  995  1.374 

Here  is  an  increase  of  379  church  edifices  from 
1870  to  1890. 


Statistical  Exhibits.  577 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church. 

The  question  of  Roman  Catholic  growth  in  the 
United  States  is  one  of  interest  the  world  over. 
Conceding  heavy  losses  in  the  old  countries,  it  has 
been  the  habit  of  Romanists  to  boast  of  their  large 
gains  in  this  country,  sufficient  to  compensate  for 
their  losses  elsewhere. 

Has  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  realized  a  large 
actual  increase  in  the  United  States?  And  has  it 
relatively  increased  ?     Yes  ;  no. 

It  has  made  large  accessions  to  its  numbers,  mul- 
tiplied its  adherents  manifold,  increased  its  churches, 
priests,  schools,  convents,  etc.,  and  appointed  high 
ecclesiastics  in  the  main  centers  of  the  population. 
It  has  organized  numerous  brotherhoods  and  sis- 
terhoods here,  whose  monasteries  and  convents  are 
visible  every-where,  and  who  number  their  work- 
ing members  by  tens  of  thousands.  Its  parochial 
schools  are  more  than  3,732,  and  the  pupils  860,356. 
It  exerts  a  very  large,  and,  in  some  localities,  a 
controlling,  influence  in  politics.  Its  magnificent 
cathedrals,  its  artistic  music,  its  subtle  logic,  and  its 
political  patronage,  have  captivated  and  led  away 
some  of  our  Protestant  population.  It  was  never 
plotting  more  deeply  and  desperately  than  now, 
and  some  fear  it  will  yet  severely  test  the  safety  of 
our  free  institutions.  There  will  be  need  of  vigi- 
lance and  hard  work  ;  but  it  will  not  triumph. 


578      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Roman  Catholic  Church  Edifices. 

According  to  the  census  the  church  edifices  were: 
In  1850,  1,222;  in  i860,  2,550;  1870,  3,806;  in  1890 
they  numbered  8,776.  The  value  of  this  church 
property  was  estimated  in  1870  at  $60,985,506;  in 
1890  at  $118,069,746. 

The  statistics  of  Roman  Catholic  churches,  chap- 
els, and  stations,  as  given  in  their  Year-Books,  are 
as  follows : 

In  1850 1,830     In  1880 8,540 

In  i860 3.797     In  1894 18,446 

In  1870 5,392 

These  figures  also  indicate  a  large  increase,  as  do 
also  those  which  give  the  number  of  the 

Priests. 

In  1850 1,302      In  18S0 6,402 

In  i860. ..   2,316      In  1894 9.717 

In  1870 3,966 

Other  Roman  Catholic  Statistics 
show  great  growth  in  the  past  forty  years : 

1850.        1880.  1894. 

Dioceses  and  Archdioceses 29             69  86 

Ecclesiastical  Students 322        1,170  2,122 

Male  Religious  Houses 35           176  .... 

Female  Religious  Houses 65  673 

Educational  Institutions  for  Young 

Men  and  Young  Ladies 123           618  840 

Parochial  Schools No  report.  2,389  3,732 

Pupils  in  Parochial  Schools "      "     423,383  768,498 

Hospitals,  Asylums,  etc 108           386  655 


Statistical  Exhibits. 


579 


Roman  Catholic  Population. 
Without  any  definite  statistics  of  their  popula- 
tion, and  dependent  upon  conjectural  estimates, 
it  is  not  strange  that  the  most  diverse  and  even 
amusing  statements  of  their  numerical  strength 
should  be  made.  Taking  only  those  of  the  Roman 
Catholics  themselves,  and  going  no  farther  back 
than  the  famous  letter  of  Bishop  England,  in  1837, 
we  present  the  following  contradictory,  but  instruct- 
ive, estimates,  and  the  authority  for  each  : 

Roman  Catholic  Population  of  the  United  States. 


Year. 

1800. 

1837. 


1840. 

1845. 


1860. 


1852. 


1853. 
i860. 


Estimates. 
100,000. 

1,000,000. 

to 
1,200,000. 

1,300,000. 
1,500,000. 
1,071,800. 


Catholic  Authorities. 


1,614,000. 

2,000,000. 
3,000,000. 
3,500,000. 
1,930,000. 

3,500,000. 
4,000,000. 
4,500,000. 


Rev.  I.  T.  Hecker,  "Catholic  World,"  1879, 
generally  accepted. 

Bishop  England,  of  South  Carolina,  in  letter 
to  the  Propaganda,  at  Lyons,  said  :  "  It  is  doubt- 
ful whether  the  number  of  Catholics  rises  above 
a  million,  but  it  may  amount  to  1,200,000." 

"Metropolitan  Catholic  Almanac,"  1841. 

Rev.  I.  T.  Hecker,  "Catholic  World,"  1879. 

"  Metropolitan  Catholic  Almanac,"  for  1846. 
Fourteen  dioceses,  estimated  by  the  Bishops, 
gave  811,800.  Eight  dioceses,  estimated  by  the 
editor,  260,000  more.  The  editor  says,  this  num- 
ber "  cannot  fall  short  of  the  truth,"  though  "  less 
than  for  several  years  past." 

"Metropolitan  Cath.  Almanac,"  1851. 

"Annals"  of  the  Lyons  Propaganda. 

Archbishop  Hughes. 

Rev.  I.  T.  flecker,  in  "  Catholic  World,"  1879. 

"Metropolitan  Catholic  Almanac."  Also  in- 
dorsed by  Rev.  Dr.  Mullens,  of  Ireland. 

Archbishop  Hughes. 

Bishop  O'Connor,  of  Pittsburgh. 

Rev,  I.  T.  Hecker,  in  "Catholic  World,"  1879. 


58o      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Roman  Catholic  Population  of  the  U.  S.  (Continued.) 


Year.        Estimates. 


Catholic  Authorities. 


1865. 

4,400,000 

1866. 

5,000,000 

1868. 

5,000,000 

■' 

9,000,000 

to 

10,000,000. 

1869. 

3,354,000. 

1870. 


6,000,000 

to 
7,000,000. 
4,600,000. 


"The  Catholic  World." 

"  Civita  Catholica"  Papal  organ,  Rome. 

"The  Catholic  World." 

Hon.  J.  F.  Maguire,  member  of  Parliament, 
from  Cork,  in  his  book,  "  The  Irish  in  America," 
p.  539,  says  :  "  I  am  inclined  to  agree  with  those 
who  regard  from  nine  to  ten  millions  of  Cath- 
olics as  a  fair  and  moderate  estimate." 

"German  Catholic  Year-Book,"  by  Rev.  E.  A. 
Reitter,  a  Jesuit  priest,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.  In  the 
preface,  pp.  6,  7,  the  editor  says :  "  After  the 
nearest  possible  account  of  the  German  Cath- 
olics in  the  United  States,  that  is,  of  such  as  have 
their  children  baptized,  their  number  is  1,044,000. 
The  number  of  Catholics  of  all  other  nations  is 
2,310,000,  making  the  whole  number  3,354,000, 
which  is  less  than  is  commonly  thought.  ...  If 
to  these  are  added  the  incredibly  large  number 
of  those  who,  after  their  arrival  in  this  country, 
have  only  too  soon  thrown  over  their  Catholic 
faith,  we  may  with  good  reason,  as  the  judgment 
of  those  who  know,  and  my  experience  of  fifteen 
years  has  taught  me,  add  one  half  to  the  number 
above,  which  would  bring  it  to  5,031,000.  Yet 
such  cannot  now  or  ever  be  taken  into  account ; 
as  m  this  country  nothing  is  more  seldom  than 
a  backslidden  Catholic  ever  to  be  reclaimed,  even 
on  their  death-beds." 

"  Catholic  World." 

"  Sadlier's  Catholic  Directory"  gives 
thirty-four  dioceses  reporting  estimates  amount- 
ing to  2,649,800.  The  remaining  twenty-four 
dioceses  comprise  eight  of  the  very  largest,  five 
quite  large,  and  others  much  smaller.  Suppos- 
ing the  twenty-four  not  reporting  to  average  with 
those  reporting,  we  have  4,600,000  for  the  total 


Statistical  Exhibits. 


581 


Roman  Catholic  Population  of  the  U.  S.  (Continued.) 


Year.  I     Estimates.     | 


Catholic  Authorities. 


1870, 


1872. 

1875. 
1876. 


1877. 

1878. 


1879. 

1880. 


10,000,000. 
5,000,000. 

8,000,000. 
6,000,000. 
9,000,000. 

6,500,000. 
6,240,000. 


Over 
6,000,000. 

6,304,950- 


Over 
7,000,000. 

7,000,000. 
9,000,000. 
6,375.630. 
6,143,222. 
6,367,330. 


"The  St.  Peter's,"  in  reply  to  the  "New  York 
Times,"  said,  "The  Roman  Catholics  in  the 
United  States  are  ten  millions  strong." 

"The  Catholic  Telegraph,"  Cincinnati,  said 
the  estimate  of  "  The  St.  Peter's  "  would  be  cor- 
rect had  Romanism  kept  all  its  children  received 
by  immigration,  but  it  had  lost  half  of  them. 

"Catholic  World,"  June,  1872,  "  We  number 
8,000,000  souls." 

Kehoe,  manager  of  the  Catholic  Publication 
Society,  New  York. 

Father  Sack ;  estimated  on  the  basis  of  three 
masses  to  each  priest,  and  each  priest  represent- 
ing a  congregation  of  2,000  devout,  indifferent, 
children,  etc. 

"History  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United 
States,"  by  J.  O'Kane  Murray,  p.  577- 

"Sadlier's  Catholic  Directory;"  five  dioceses 
not  reporting  that  year,  supplied  from  estimates 
given  in  other  years. 

"Catholic  Family  Almanac,"  1876. 

"  Sadlier's  Catholic  Directory;"  eight  dioceses 
not  reporting  that  year,  supplied  from  estimates 
given  in  other  years. 

Mr.  Kehoe's  Report  to  Bureau  of  Statistics, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

Rev.  I.  T.   Hecker,    in    "Catholic   World," 

1879- 
A  priest  in  Indiana,  estimating  like  Father 

Sack. 

"Sadlier's  Catholic  Directory,"  1879,  all  dio- 
ceses reported. 

"Sadlier's  Catholic  Directory,"  1880,  all  dio- 
ceses reported. 

"Sadlier's  Catholic  Directory,"  1881. 
All  but  three  very  small  dioceses  reported. 


582      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


Roman  Catholic  Population  of  thk  U.  S.  (Continued.) 


Year. 


Estimates. 


Catholic  Authorities. 


1884. 


1893. 


1894. 


6,623,176 
7,000,000 

8,000,000 


7-855,294 

8,579.966 

12,000,000 
14,000,000 


8,902,033 

8,806,648 


"  Sadlier's  Catholic  Almanac  and  Directory," 
1894. 

John  A.  Russell,  A.  B.,  in  Prize  Essay  before 
the  Provincial  Council,  Baltimore,  Md.  Me- 
morial Volume,  p.  27. 

In  said  Council,  Rev.  Bp.  McQuaid,  of 
Rochester,  N.  Y.,  said  :  "  The  Directory  esti- 
mates the  Roman  Catholic  population  at 
6,623,176.  It  is  easy  to  see  that  these  figures 
are  not  based  on  correct  information.  .  .  .  An 
estimate  that  would  place  the  Catholic  popula- 
tion at  8,000,000  would  in  my  judgment  not 
be  far  from  the  truth." 

"  Sadlier's  Catholic  Almanac  and  Directory," 
New  York  City. 

"  Hoffman's  Catholic  Directory,"  Milwaukee, 
Wis. 

Dr.  R.  H.  Clark,  in  "Catholic  Quarterly 
Review,"  said:  "In  1890  the  census  of  the 
United  States  shows  the  entire  population  to 
have  been  62,885,548,  while  the  Catholic  pop- 
ulation was  estimated  at  12,000,000.  One  of  the 
bishops  placed  it  at  14,000,000.  It  would  be 
impossible  to  estimate  the  number  of  converts  to 
the  faith  in  this  12,000,000  of  Catliolics — would 
that  we  could  approximate  to  the  number." 

"  Hoffman's  Catholic  Directory." 

"Sadlier'.s  Catholic  Almanac  and  Di- 
rectory." 


Such  staggering  statistics  show  how  wild  and  un- 
reliable  are  the  claims  to  large  numbers  made  by 
the  Church  of  Rome.  The  scientific  method  seems 
not  to  be  employed  in  making  up  their  book  of 
numbers,  and  therefore  their  claims  must  be  taken 
with  allowance. 


Statisticai,  KxiiiisiTs.  583 

The  striking  variations  of  the  foregoing  estimates, 
even  those  of  high  Roman  Catholic  officials,  show 
the  necessity  of  careful  discrimination  in  order  to 
arrive  at  satisfactory  numbers  of  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic population.  We  notice  five  estimates,  between 
1868  and  1876,  which  exceed  almost  all  made  since 
1876.  And  the  estimates  given  by  the  Catholic 
Directories  and  Almanacs,  all  the  way  through, 
contrast  with  the  random  figures  of  others.  These 
oflficial  estimates  are  all  made  up  on  the  basis  of 
reports  from  the  Bishops  of  the  different  dioceses, 
each  one  estimating  the  Catholic  population  of  his 
diocese.  Some  years  the  Bishops  neglect  to  esti- 
mate their  populations,  and  the  editor  supplies  the 
vacancy  by  some  information  at  his  command,  or 
from  the  estimates  of  other  years. 

Our  statistics  of  the  communicants  of  the  Prot- 
estant Churches  are  made  up  for  the  years  1 800, 
1850,  1870,  1S80,  and  1890.  In  order  to  future 
comparisons  it  is  necessary,  therefore,  to  select  the 
most  reliable  estimates  of  the  Catholic  population 
for  these  years.  For  1800,  Protestants  and  Roman- 
ists are  agreed  upon  the  number  100,000.  For  the 
three  remaining  periods  we  take  the  estimates  given 
from  the  Catholic  Year-Books,  and  thus  have  bases 
for  comparison  made  by  uniform  processes: 

Roman  Caiiioi-K'  Population. 

1800 100,000    18S0 6,367,330 

1850 1,614,00011890 8,579,966 

1S70 4,600,000  I 

88 


584      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

These  figures  show  a  large  Roman  CathoHc  in- 
crease. From  1800  to  1850  it  averaged  302,800 
each  decade;  from  1850  to  1890,  1,741,491  each 
decade. 

We  have  before  noticed  that  the  number  of  im- 
migrants landed  on  our  shores  from  1850  to  June 
30,  1894,  was  13,462,367.  Of  these,  at  least  three 
fifths,  or  8,077,419,  were  Roman  Catholics,  which 
is  1,111,453  more  than  the  total  increase  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  population  in  the  same  period,  as 
given  in  their  Year-Books.  Full  seven  eighths  of 
all  the  immigrants  from  Ireland  have  been  Papists. 
The  Roman  Catholic  immigrants,  from  all  countries, 
and  their  offspring,  during  the  past  forty  years, 
must  have  amounted  to  full  ten  millions,  making  no 
account  of  those  here  prior  to  1850  and  their 
descendants.  But  their  Year-Book  for  1891  gives 
the  total  Catholic  population  8,579,966,  which  is 
only  little  more  than  the  Catholic  immigration  dur- 
ing the  last  forty  years,  and  their  natural  increase, 
not  to  mention  the  natural  increase  of  those  already 
here  in  1850. 

That  Romanism  has  grown  here,  and  very  large- 
ly, too,  is  unquestionable.  And  it  is  likely  to  grow 
still  more.  Every  thing  grows  in  the  United 
States.  But  its  gains  have  been  almost  wholly  by 
immigration,  and  its  losses  have  been  heavy,  im- 
mensely more  than  its  gains.  By  its  own  acknowl- 
edgment it  has  lost  millions.     "  This  country  is  the 


Statistk;al  Exhibits.  585 

biggest  grave  for  Popery  ever  dug  on  earth."     Un 
der  strongly  predominant  Protestant  influences,  her 
children  have  been  extensively  alienated  and  lost 
to  the  Church.     Papists  know  this  well,  and  hence 
their  hostility  to  our  common-school  system. 


A  Tabulated  View  of  Roman  Catholic  Losses  in  the  United 
States,  as  acknowledged  by  Romanists. 


Year. 


1837. 


1852. 


Estimated 
Losses. 


2,800,000 

to 
3,000,000. 


2,000,000. 


One  third 
of  all  the 
Irish  immi- 
grants. 


Thousands 
lost  in  cities; 
more    in    the 

COUIltl^'. 

Typical 
cases  of  loss 
of     descend^ 
ants. 


Catholic  Authorities,  Remarks,  etc. 


Bishop  England,  of  South  Carolina,  in  a  let- 
ter to  Lyons  Propaganda,  said  :  "  If  there  had 
been  no  losses,  the  number  of  Catholics  would 
have  amounted  to  4,000,000."  Deducting  his 
estimate  (1,000,000  to  1,200,000)  of  Catholics 
then  living  in  the  United  States,  we  have  the 
annexed  figures. 

Rev.  Robert  Mullen,  D.D.,  based  upon  an 
elaborate  statistical  calculation,  ("  Christian 
Union,"  August,  1852,  p.  251.)  He  said: 
"  Of  the  number  of  Irish  Catholics  emigrating 
to  the  United  States  one  third  at  least  are  lost 
to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church."  He  also 
said  that  Rev.  Bishop  Reynolds,  of  Charleston, 
S.  C,  told  him,  "You  will  save  religion  by 
proceeding,  on  your  return  to  Ireland,  from 
parish  to  parish,  telling  the  people  not  to  lose 
their  immortal  souls  by  coming  to  America  ;" 
and  that  Archbishop  Hughes  said  to  him  : 
"  The  people  at  home  (Ireland)  do  not  fully 
understand  the  position  of  the  emigiants  — 
thousands  being  lost  in  the  large  cities,  while 
in  the  country  the  faith  has  died  out  of  multi- 
tudes." 

In  the  "  Freeman's  Journal,"  June  5,  1852,  a 
correspondent  said  :  "  We  know  of  a  Catholic 
couple,  who  settled  in  an  adjoining  county 
some  seventy  or  eighty  years  ago ;   their  dc- 


$86      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


A  Tabulated  View  of  Roman  Catholic  Lossis,  ((Continued.) 


Year. 


1855. 


1862. 
1864. 


1869. 

t875. 


1876. 


Estimated 
Losses. 


Sixty  per 
cent,  of  the 
children. 


3,000,000 
to  4,000,000. 

Five  hun- 
dred lost  to 
Popery  to  one 
convert  from 
Protestant- 
ism. 


"  1,700,000 
in  15  years." 

Thousands 
upon  thou- 
sands. 


Loss  great- 
er than  the 
gain. 


Catholic  Authorities,  Remarks,  etc. 

scendants  are  very  numerous,  but  there  is  not 
a  Catholic  now  among  them  !  In  another 
county  an  old  Irish  couple  are  still  living,  and 
still  preferring  the  Catholic  faith,  whose  chil- 
dren, grandchildren,  and  great-grandchildren 
number  something  over  one  hundred  souls, 
yet  there  are  but  two  or  three  Catholics  at 
present  among  them." 

The  editor  of  the  "  Celt,"  lecturing  in  Ire- 
land, advised  his  countrymen  to  "  stay  at  home, 
because  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  loses  sixty 
per  cent,  of  the  children  of  Roman  Catholic 
parents  in  the  United  States." 

Bishop  of  Toronto. 

■'  The  Tablet,"  New  York  city,  said  :  "  Few 
insurance  companies,  we  venture  to  assert, 
would  take  a  risk  on  the  national  life  of  a 
creed  which  puts  five  hundred  daily  into  the 
grave  for  one  it  wins  over  to  its  communion  ; 
and  yet  this  is  what  the  Catholic  Church  is 
doing,  in  these  States,  while  we  write." 

German  Catholic  "  Year-Book." 

An  archbishop  in  Ireland,  after  visiting  the 
United  States,  told  his  people  in  Ireland,  "  It 
is  far  better  for  you  to  live  here  in  poverty, 
and  die  in  the  faith,  and  be  sure  of  saving  your 
immortal  souls,  and  going  to  heaven,  than  to 
go  to  a  country  where  thousands  upon  thou- 
sands of  our  race,  our  Irish  race,  deny  the 
faith." 

"  Life  of  Archbishop  Spaulding."  Speak- 
ing of  the  period  "in  which  the  hierarchy  has 
been  in  existence,  (1790-1876,)"  the  biogra- 
pher says :  "  We  have  lost  in  numbers  by  far 


Statistical  Exhibits. 


5S7 


A  Tabulated  View  of  Roman  Catholic  Losses,  (Continued.) 


Year. 


1876. 


Estimated 

Losses. 


More  fall- 
en away  than 
now  living. 


18,000,000. 


Catholic  Authorities,  Remarks,  etc. 


more  than  we  have  gained,  if  I  may  express  an 
opinion,  beyond  all  doubt." 

Mr.  J.  O'Kane  Murray,  "History  of  Catho- 
lic Church  in  United  States,"  p.  583,  says  :  "  It 
may  be  safely  said  that  more  Catholics  have 
fallen  away  from  the  faith  in  this  country  dur- 
ing the  last  two  centuries  and  a  half  than  are 
to-day  living  in  it." 

J.  O'Kane  Murray,  "  History  of  Roman 
Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States,"  pp. 
610,  611.  The  following  is  Mr.  Murray's  full 
statement,  and  the  basis  on  which  it  is  pred- 
icated : 

"  Two    points     frequently    discussed    are, 

1.  What  are  the  relative  proportions  of  the 
Celtic  and  the  Anglo-Saxon  or  English  ele- 
ment in  the  population  of  the  United  States  ? 

2.  How  many  members  has  the  Catholic 
Church  probably  lost  in  this  country  ?  In  re- 
gard to  the  first  question,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  Celtic  element  far  exceeds  that 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon.  This  is  a  settled  fact 
A  careful  analysis  of  our  statistics  proves  it. 
Just  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  the  Hon.  Will- 
iam E.  Robinson,  in  a  remarkable  speech  at 
Hamilton  College,  Clinton,  N.  Y.,  said :  '  I 
think  it  would  be  quite  good-natured  in  me  to 
allow  that  about  one  eighth  of  this  country^is 
English,  or  what  is  called  Anglo-Saxon.'  By 
means  of  statistics  he  then  clearly  demon- 
strated the  correctness  of  this  opinion,  (See 
'New  York  Tribune,'  July  30,  1851.)  Rev. 
Stephen  Byrne,  O.S.D.,  in  his  'Irish  Emigra- 
tion to  the  United  States,'  1873,  puts  the  Celtic 
element  at  one  half  of  our  present  population, 
the  Anglo-Saxon  at  one  fourth.  The  New 
York  'Irish  World,'  whose  editor,  Mr.   Ford, 


588      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


A  Tabulated  View  of  Roman  Catholic  Losses,  (Continued.) 


Year. 


1876. 


Estimated 
Losses. 


Catholic  Authorities,  Remarks,  etc. 


is  well  known  as  a  diligent  student  of  statis- 
tics, holds  that  two  thirds  of  our  people  are 
Celts  by  birth  or  descent,  and  only  about  one 
ninth  are  Anglo-Saxon. 

"As  to  the  Church's  loss  in  the  United 
States,  it  is  no  easy  problem  to  solve.  Nei- 
ther higher  algebra  nor  calculus  can  help  us  to 
grapple  with  it.  The  geologists  say  that  past 
time  is  long.  As  to  its  exact  length,  they  hesi- 
tate to  put  it  into  figures,  or  when  they  do, 
scarcely  two  are  alike.  It  is  the  same  with 
the  American  loss  to  the  Faith.  The  earnest 
student  of  our  history  is  obliged  to  confess  that 
it  was  large  ;  but  how  large  it  may  have  been 
is  an  unsettled  question.  The  'Irish  World' 
of  July  25,  1874,  maintained  that  18,000,000 
have  been  lost  to  Catholicity  in  this  Republic. 
It  backed  up  this  assertion  with  the  following 
table,  which,  I  believe,  is,  in  the  main,  reli- 
able : 

^^  Table  Showing  the  Relative  Proportions  of 
the  Constituent  Elements  of  the  Population 
of  the   United  States  in  1870,  in  which  is 
Indicated    the    Number    of    Catholics    thai 
should  be  in  the  Country  now,  (1874.) 
I.  Total  white  popu- 
lation   of    the 
thirteen     colo- 
nies at  the  close 
of  the  Revolu- 
tionary War . .     3,172,000 
II.  Relative    propor- 
tions    of     the 
constituent  ele- 
ments in  colo- 
nial population 


Statistical  Exhibits. 


589 


A  Tabulated  View  of  Roman  Catholic  Losses,  (Coniinued.j 


Year. 


1876. 


Estimated 
Losses. 


Catholic  Authorities,  Remarks,  etc. 


—Celtic  (Irish, 

Scotch,  Welsh, 

French,  etc.)..  1,903,200 
(Irish  separately)  1,141,920 
Anglo-Saxon  .  . .  841.800 
Dutch  and  Scan- 

dinavians 427,000 

III.  Product,  in  1870, 

of  the  popula- 
tion of  1790 9,496,000 

IV.  Product,  in  1870, 

of  the  separate 
elements  of  the 
population  of 
1790: 

Celtic 5,697,000" 

(Irish  separately)    3,418,200 

Anglo-Saxon  . . .     2,504.000 

Dutch  and  Scan- 
dinavians      1,295,000  J 

V.  Product,  in  1870, 
of  population 
gained  by  ac- 
quisition of 
new      territory 

since  1790 1,500,000 

VI.  Product,  in  1870, 
of  Irish  and 
French  immi- 
gration     fiom 

Canada 2,000,000 

VII.  Total  strength  of 
Colored  ele- 
ment in  1870 4,504,000 

VIII.  Total  immigra- 
tion to  U.  S., 
1790  to  1870       3,199,000 


590      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


A  Tabulated  View  of  Roman  Catholic  Losses,  (Continued.) 


Year. 


r876. 


Estimated 
Losses. 


Catholic  Authorities,  Remarks,  etc 


Irish  immigra- 
tion from  1790 
101870 3,248,000 

Anglo-Saxon  im- 
migration,from 
1790  to  1870. .        796,000 

Immigration  of 
all  other  ele- 
ments       4,155,000 

IX.  Product  of  total 
immigration  to 
U.  S.,  from 
1790  to  1870 23,000,000 

Product  of  Irish 
immigration 
(from  1790). . .     9,750,000 

Product  of  An- 
glo-Saxon im- 
migration(from 
1790) 2,000,000 

Product    of     all 

other  immigra- 

tion(from  1790)  11,250,000 

X.  Total  population 

of    U.     S.    in 

1870 38,500,000 

XI.  Joint  product,  in 
1870,  of  Irish 
Colonial  ele- 
ment and  sub- 
sequent Irish 
immigration 
(including  that 
from  Canada).   14,325,000 

Joint  product,  in 
1870,  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  Colonial 


Statistical  Exiiip.its. 


591 


A  Tauulatku  View  ok  Roman  Catholic  Losses,  (Continued.) 


Year. 


1876. 


Estimated 
Losses. 


Catholic  Authorities,  Remarks,  etc. 


"Hundreds, 
nay,  thou- 
sands, have 
been  lost  to 
the  faith 
during  tlie 
present  cen- 
tury." 


element        and 

subsequent  An- 
glo-Saxon im- 
migration     4,522,000 

Joint  product,  in 
1870,  of  all 
other  Colonial 
elements  and 
all  subsequent 
immigration  (in- 
cluding Colored 

population) 19,653,000 

Total  joint  product 38.500,000 

XII.  Total  Celtic  element  {Irish 
Scotch,  French,  Spanish, 
Italian)    in    United  States 

in  1870 24,000,000 

Total  Irish  element  in  United 

States  in  1870 14,325,000 

Total    Anglo-Saxon    element 

in  United  States  in  1870. .     4,522,000 
Total  of  all    other   elements 
(not  Celtic  nor  Anglo-Saxon) 
in  United  States  in  1870. .     9,978,000 
"  Almost  the  entire  Celtic  element  (24,000,000) 
might   be  safely  regarded  as  the  descendants  of 
men  who  were  Catholics  on  settling  in  America." 
Cardinal   Gibbons'    Tastoral    Letter:     "We 
are  also  warned  by  experience  that  the  loss  of 
Catholic  faith  is  another  evil  resulting  from  the 
separation  of  a  religious  from  a  secular  educa- 
tion.    While  we  are  gratified  at  the  number  of 
converts  who  embrace  the  true  faith,  we  have 
reason  to  be  appalled  in  considering  the  vast 
number  of  souls  that  are  straying  away  from  the 
fold.     If  we  look  for  the  descendants  of  those 
families  that  have  been  immigrating  from  Cath- 
)lic  Europe  to  this  country,  in  one  uninterrupted 


592 


Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


A  Tabulated  View  of  Roman  Catholic  Losses,  (Continued.) 


Year. 

^883". 


Estimated 
Losses. 


12,000,000 


Catholic  Authorities,  Remarks,  etc. 


march,  from  the  beginning  of  the  present  cent- 
ury, how  many  of  them  shall  we  now  find, 
ranked  among  the  most  bitter  and  unrelenting 
enemies  of  the  Church  !  In  observing  even  tlie 
names  of  the  dissenting  clergymen  of  the  coun- 
try, you  cannot  fail  to  notice  that  many  of  tlie 
most  prominent  lights  among  them  betray  their 
Catliolic  origin  and  nationality. 

"These  statements  are  confirmed  by  Bishop 
England,  a  prelate  of  vast  experience  and  close 
observation.  They  are  confirmed  also  by  our 
illustrious  predecessor,  Archbishop  Kenrick,  a 
man  incapable  of  exaggeration.  We  once  heard 
him  remark,  as  the  result  of  his  personal  ob- 
servation, that  hundreds,  nay,  thousands,  of  sons 
of  Catholic  parents  have  been  lost  to  the  faith 
among  us  during  the  present  century." 

The  "Catholic  Mirror,"  of  Baltimore,  while 
claiming  that  there  are  8,000,000  Catliolics  in 
this  country,  asserts  that  there  should  be 
20,000,000,  and  admits  that  the  losses  have  been 
enormous.  Tlie  "  Union  "  adds  the  following 
frank  confession  :  "  It  is  our  opinion  that  a  vast 
deal  of  unmeaning  stuff  has  been  talked  about 
the  progress  of  the  Catholic  Church  both  in 
England  and  America.  It  is  true  there  are 
2,000,000  Catholics  in  England  and  8,000,000 
in  America.  Nine  tenths  of  those  in  tlie  former 
country  and  three  fourths  in  the  latter  are  of  Irish 
blood.  There  have  been  a  few  hundred  people  of 
what  are  there  called  the  '  higher  classes '  con- 
verted to  the  faith  in  England  ;  whether,  from  a 
politic  standpoint,  tliey  have  been  an  acquisition 
we  greatly  doubt  ;  but  it  is  certain  that  the  masses 
have  not  been  touched.  In  America,  also,  there 
have  been  a  feii<  conve7-sioiis,  but  they  do  not 
amount  to  a  drop  in  the  bucket  compared  with 
the  immense  losses  the  Church  has  sustained." 


Statistical  Kxiitrits.  593 

Is  it  asked,  Has  not  Romanism,  in  spite  of  these 
losses,  relatively  gained  ?     We  answer,  Yes  ;   no. 

In  our  plan  of  investigation  we  shall  soon  be  ready 
to  enter  upon  this  question.     We  next  consider, 

II.  The  Relative  Progress. 

I.  JV/h7t  Jias  been  tJic progress  of  the  three  religious 
forees  under  eonsideration — the  '' Evangehear'  Prot- 
estant, the  ''Liberal,"  and  the  Roman  Catholic — rela- 
tively to  the  whole  population  of  the  United  States. 

The  Evangelical  Denominations. 

In  1775  there  was  one  chureh  organisation  of  this 
class  for  1,376  inhabitants;  in  1870,  one  for  612  in- 
habitants. Taking  the  societies,  (before  explained 
as  including  in  some  instances  parishes  and  congre- 
gations,) there  were,  in  1800,  one  for  1,740  inhab- 
itants; in  1850,  one  for  895;  in  1880,  one  for  520 
habitants;  and  in  1890,  one  for  414  inhabitants. 

The  ministers  were,  in  1775,  one  for  1,81 1  inhab- 
itants; in  1800,  one  for  2,000  inhabitants ;  in  1850, 
one  for  907  inhabitants;  in  1880,  one  for  717  in- 
habitants; in  1890,  one  for  638  inhabitants. 

How  is  it  with  the  evangelical  communicants  ? 

An  impression  prevails  in  some  quarters  that, 
while  the  number  of  church  members  in  this  coun- 
try is  constantly  on  the  increase,  the  growth  does 
not  keep  pace  with  the  increase  of  the  population. 
Some  have  contended  that  they  are  irrecoverably 


594      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

falling  behind.  This  question  is  one  of  general  in- 
terest ;  and  it  can  be  determined  only  upon  a  well- 
prepared  basis  of  facts,  covering  a  considerable  term 
of  years. 

Thirty  years  ago  a  writer  in  the  "  Southern  Ob- 
server" showed  that,  in  1750,  the  proportion  of 
members  of  Evangelical  Churches  to  the  entire  pop- 
ulation was  one  to  thirteen  ;  in  1775,  one  to  sixteen ; 
in  1792,  one  to  eighteen;  in  1825,  one  to  fourteen; 
in  1855,  oris  to  six  and  three  eighths  ;  in  i860,  one  to 
five  and  a  half.  We  have  not  at  hand  the  statistics 
upon  which  these  conclusions  are  based ;  and  we 
very  much  doubt  whether  definite  data  for  the  first 
three  periods  ever  were  or  ever  can  be  obtained. 
But  we  have  no  doubt  of  the  substantial  accuracy 
of  the  fonclusions,  from  what  is  well  known  of  the  re- 
ligious tendencies  of  those  times,  as  already  sketched 
in  previous  chapters  of  this  volume.  For  the  periods 
within  the  present  century  we  have  statistics  which 
we  believe  to  be  as  accurate  as  such  masses  of 
statistics  can  well  be,  a  great  amount  of  care,  re- 
search, and  correspondence  having  been  devoted  to 
the  work. 

In  a  previous  paragraph  we  have  given  the  sum- 
maries showing  the  actual  increase  of  the  com- 
municants. Compared  with  the  population  at  the 
different  periods  we  find  the  following  results :  In 
1800  there  was  one  Evangelical  communicant  in 
14.50  inhabitants   in   the  whole  country.     In    1850 


Statistical  Exiiiuits.  595 

there  was  one  in  6.57  inhabitants.  In  1870  there 
was  one  in  5.78  inhabitants.  In  1880  there  was 
one  in  5  inhabitants.  In  1890  there  was  one  in 
4.53  inhabitants. 

These  figures  indicate  a  very  large  relative  gain 
upon  the  population — three  communicants  in  the 
same  number  of  inhabitants  where  there  was  one  in 
1800.  While  the  population  from  i8cxD  to  1890 
increased  without  a  parallel  in  ancient  or  modern 
times,  devolving  upon  the  Protestant  Churches  the 
responsibility  of  meeting  the  religious  needs  of  these 
rapidly  multiplying  millions,  it  is  creditable  to  them, 
and  an  occasion  of  gratitude  to  God,  that  they  have 
so  far  met  these  extraordinary  demands,  and  achieved 
the  brightest  triumphs  known  in  their  whole  histor}'. 
While  the  population  since  1800  has  increased 
twelve  fold,  the  communicants  of  these  Churches 
increased  thirty-eight  fold,  or  over  three  times  as 
fast  relatively. 

The  period  since  1850  has  been  one  of  severe 
strain  upon  American  Protestantism,  on  account  of 
the  great  activity  of  modern  rationalism,  material- 
ism, and  spiritualism,  and  a  large  immigration. 
Because  of  these  things  it  has  been  claimed  that, 
whatever  increase  the  Evangelical  Churches  have 
had,  they  have,  nevertheless,  fallen  behind  the 
growth  of  the  population  during  the  last  thirty 
years.  But  the  statistics  already  noticed  prove 
the   contrary.       Even    during    this    trying    period, 


596      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

while  the  population  increased  170  per  cent.,  the 
communicants  of  these  Churches  increased  290  per 
cent.,  or  a  half  faster  relatively  than  the  population. 
And  during  the  severe  strain  from  the  year  1870 
to  1890,  while  the  population  increased  62  per 
cent.,  the  communicants  increased  107  per  cent. 
The  total  increase  of  the  communicants  from  1850 
to  1880  was  6,535,985,  or  more  than  twice  as  large 
as  the  increase  in  the  fifty  years  from  1800  to 
1850.  The  last  forty  years,  then,  has  been  the 
period  of  the  grandest  progress,  both  actually  and 
relatively. 

Progress  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
Compared   with  the  Population. 

This  denomination  has  made  a  large  advance, 
relatively,  upon  the  population.  Three  forms  of 
comparison  will  show  this  fact  clearly. 

According  to  the  United  States  Census  the  church 
edifices  of  this  body  were  : 

In  1850,  1,222,  or  one  church  for  18,977  inhabitants. 
In  1870,  3,806,     "  "  "     10,130 

In  1890,  8,776,      "  "         "       7,134 

According  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Year-Books 
their  priests  were : 

In  1850,  1,302,  or  one  priest  for  17,812  inhabitants. 

In  1870,  3,966,      "  "       "       9,725 

In  1880,  6,402,     "  "       "      7,844 

In  1890,  8,778,      "  "       "       7,134  " 


Statistical  Exhibits.  597 

The    Roman    Catholic  population,  as  estimated  in 

their  Ycar-Books,  was: 

In  1850,  1,614,000.  or  one  Roman   Calholic  for  14-37  inhabitants. 

In  1870,  4,600,000,     "  "  "  ^38 

In  1880,  6.367,330,     "  "  "  7-88 

In  1S90,  8,579,966.     "  "  "  7-3     "early. 

In  1894,  8,806,648,     " 

At  every  point  we  discover  evidences  of  a  large 
gain,  relatively,  upon  the  whole  population  of  the 
country.  But  the  greatest  gain  was  from  1850  to 
1870.     Since  1870  their  relative  gain  is  smaller. 

2.  What  has  been  the  progress  of  the  Evani^elieal 
ami  the  Roman  Catholic  denominations,  as  compared 
with  each  other? 

Taking  the  church  edifices  we  have: 

Ev;ingelical.  Roman  Catholic. 

1850 34-537         1.222 

1S70 56,154         3.806 

1890 131.400         8,776 

Increase  1870-1890 75.246         4-970 

An  increase  of  4,970  Roman  Catholic  churches  in 
twenty  years  is  small  to  the  increase  of  75,246 
Evangelical  churches. 

Comparing  the  Evangelical  ministers  and  the 
Roman  Catholic  priests,  we  have  the  following : 

Evangelical  Roman  Catholic 
Ministers.  Priests. 

1850 25,555  1.302 

1880 69,870  6,402 

1890 98.085  8,778 

Increase  1880-1890 28,215  2,376 


598      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

The  increase  of  2,376  priests  is  a  small  offset  to 
an  increase  of  28,215  Evangelical  ministers. 

We  next  compare  the  communicants  of  the  Evan- 
gelical Churches  with  the  Roman  Catholic  popu- 
lation : 

Communicants.  R.  C.  Population. 

1850 3,529,988  1,614,000 

1870 6,673,396  4,600,000 

1880 10,065,963  6,367,330 

1890 13,823,618  8,579,966 

Increase,  1850-1870. . .  .     3,143,408  2,986,000 

"         1870-1880 3.392.567  1,767.330 

"          1880-1890.  . .  .      3.757,655  2,202,636 

"         1850-1890. . .  .    10,293,630  6,965,966 

It  appears  that  in  the  period  of  the  largest  Ro- 
man Catholic  immigration,  from  1850  to  1870,  the 
increase  of  the  enrolled  communicants  of  the  Evan- 
gelical Churches  was  157,408  larger  than  the  increase 
of  the  whole  Roman  Catholic  population.  In  the  last 
ten  years  it  was  1,5 5 5,019  greater  ;  and  in  the  whole 
forty  years  (1850-1890)  it  was  3,327,664  greater. 

While  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  largely  aided 
by  immigration,  has  relatively  gained  upon  the  pop- 
ulation, it  has,  nevertheless,  not  gained  upon  Pro- 
testantism. The  Evangelical  Protestant  Churches, 
with  only  small  accessions  from  abroad,  have  far 
outstripped  her.  The  increase  of  single  classes  of 
Protestant  Churches  has  far  exceeded  the  whole  in- 
crease of  Romanism.  The  ordained  ministers  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  (North)  alone,  and 
also  of  the  Baptist  Church  (North  and  South)  alone, 


Statistical  Exhibits.  599 

not  to  include  other  bodies  be^iring  the  names  Meth- 
odist and  Baptist,  are  each  ahiiost  twice  as  numerous 
as  the  Roman  Cathohc  priests.  Taking  the  com- 
municants oi"  four  classes  of  Churches,  those  bearing 
the  name  Baptist,  Methodist,  Lutheran,  and  United 
Brethren,  leaving  out  of  the  account  all  the  Presby- 
terian, Congregational,  Episcopal,  and  about  a  dozen 
other  Evangelical  denominations,  increased  more, 
from  1850  to  1880,  than  the  whole  Roman  Catholic 
population,  as  estimated  in  their  Year-Books. 

There  is  another  view  of  this  matter  which  must 
not  be  overlooked.  In  all  our  comparisons  hitherto 
we  have  given  Romanism  every  possible  advantage. 
We  have  compared  the  registered  communicants  of 
the  Evangelical  Churches  with  the  Roman  Catholic 
estimates,  based  upon  conjectures  or  only  meager 
data  ;  and  we  have  also  compared  these  duly  en- 
rolled and  yearly  revised  lists  of  communicants,  seven 
eighths  of  whom  are  above  eighteen  years  of  age, 
with  the  whole  Roman  Catholic  population.  Their 
estimates  (we  have  it  on  the  authority  of  those  who 
have  assisted  the  Bishops  in  making  them)  include 
whole  households,  all  baptized  children  as  well  as 
adults.  The  bases  for  comparison,  therefore,  are  very 
unlike,  and  unfair  to  Evangelical  Protestantism. 

In  order  to  make  the  comparison  equitable,  the 
whole  population  of  the  Evangelical  Churches 
should  be  compared  with  the  Roman  Catholic  pop- 
ulation. This  may  be  done  by  multiplying  the 
39 


6oo      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

communicants  of  these  Churches  by  3^,  (the  usual 
number  is  4,  but  we  prefer  to  not  seem  to  overrate 
any  thing.)  There  must  be  at  least  two  and  a  half 
additional  persons  for  every  communicant  who  is  an 
adherent  of  the  Evangelical  Churches.  Calculating 
thus,  we  have  the  following  results : 

Population  of  the  Roman  Catholic 

Evangelical  Churches.  Population. 

Ill  1800 1,277,052  •         100,000 

1^1850 12,354,958  1.614,000 

111  1870 23,356,880  4,600,000 

In  1880 35,230,870  6.367,330 

In  1890 48,382,663  8,579,966 

These  figures  show  the  relative  position  and 
growth  of  these  two  religious  classes  during  the 
century.  The  last  ten  years  has  been,  relatively, 
the  best  for  Evangelical  progress. 

What  percentage  of  the  whole  population  has  been 
Evangelical  Protestant,  and  what  percentage  Roman 
Catholic,  in  these  different  periods,  is  an  interesting 
inquiry.  The  following  is  the  statement,  and  the  dia- 
gram on  the  opposite  page,  with  measurements  care- 
fully calculated,  will  illustrate  the  relative  progress. 

The  Evangelical  population  was  : 

In   rSoo,  24.06   per  cent,  of  the  whole  po)iulation. 

In  1850,  53.22 

In  1870,  60.57         "               "  "              " 

In  1880,  70.003       "               "  "               " 

In  1890,  77.26         "               "  "              " 


The  Roman  Catholics  were  : 

In   1800,  .02  per  cent,  of   the    whi 

In   1850,  .07          "  " 

In   1870,  11.93          "  " 

In   1880,  12.68 

In   1890,  13.7            "  "  ' 


le    po]^ulation. 


1800  ri — i V    Tolal  Population,  5,308,488. 

..VI IVK  Progress  <>k  Kvangelical,  Roman 

C.VrHOI.IC,    AM)    TOIAI.    POI'UI.ATION 

i)i-   iiiK.  Umi'eh  Staiks. 


I     riicla>sifieil  population. 


I  I     Roman  C.itholic  population. 

I  I     l",v,tiv4eli< :al  papulation. 


Total  Population,  23,191.876. 


Total  Pop'n, 
50,152,866. 


Statistical  Exhibits.  603 

From  the  foregoing  it  will  appear  that  the  pro- 
portion of  the  population  of  the  United  States,  not 
included  as  adherents  of  the  Evangelical  Churches, 
in  the  different  periods,  was  as  follows: 

In  iSoo,  75.94  per  cent.      In  i8So,  30   per  cent. 
In  1S50,  46.78    "         In  1890,  22.74 
In  1870,  39.43 

These  last  percentages  include  the  Roman  Cath- 
olics, the  adherents  of  the  Liberal  Churches,  and 
the  masses  who  wholly  stand  aloof  from  all  the 
Churches.  In  the  past  ninety  years  this  part  of  the 
population  has  been  reduced  from  75.94  to  22.74 
per  cent,  of  the  whole  inhabitants. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  pursue  these  comparisons 
further.  Romanism  has  made  large  gains,  even 
upon  the  population,  but  chiefly  from  immigration, 
and  Evangelical  Protestantism  has  gained  relatively 
much  more  than  Romanism.  During  the  last  two 
decades  the  gain  of  Romanism  has  been  less  than 
in  the  two  preceding  decades,  while  the  Evangel- 
ical Churches  have  gained  more  than  ever  before. 
Present  indications  justify  the  prediction  that  Ro- 
manism has  passed  the  period  of  her  most  rapid  in- 
crease in  the  United  States,  and  must  henceforth 
relatively  decline. 

An  intelligent  Roman  Catholic  layman  in  Boston, 
not  many  years  ago,  said :  "  We  shall  hold  our 
ground  for  awhile;  but  we  understand  that  in  the 
fight  of  a  hundred  years  we  shall  be  whipped^ 


6o4      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

One  more  aspect  of  the  question  of  relative  prog- 
ress remains  to  be  briefly  considered. 

3.  The  Progress  of  Evangelical  Christian- 
ity IN  the  United  States,  in  the  Present 
Century,  Compared  with  its  Progress  in  the 
First  Centuries  of  the  Christian  Era. 

It  is  very  common  to  look  back  to  the  first  Chris- 
tian centuries  as  a  period  of  the  greatest  growth  of 
Christianity  ;  but  those  who  do  so  do  not  act  in- 
telligently. The  last  one  hundred  and  fifty  years 
has  been  a  period  of  greater  Christian  progress  in 
the  whole  world  than  any  previous  period.  This 
will  appear  in  the  last  chapter  of  this  volume.  But 
in  the  United  States  alone,  in  the  last  ninety  years, 
the  progress  of  the  first  Christian  centuries  has  been 
greatly  exceeded. 

The  progress  of  Christianity  in  the  first  centuries 
of  the  Christian  era  has  been  usually  estimated  as 
follows : 


Christians. 

Close  of  1st  Centuiy,         500,000 

"       2(1  "  2,000,000 

"       3d  "  5,000,000 

"       4th        "         10,000,000 


Christians. 

Close  of  5th  Century,   15,000,000 

"       6th        "  20,000,000 

"       7th        "  25,000,000 

8  th       "  30,000,000 


In  the  United  States  the  enrolled  communicants 
increased  in  ninety  years  (1800-1890)  13,458,746; 
which  is  nearly  equal  to  the  total  increase  of  Chris- 
tianity in  the  first  five  centuries  of  the  Christian 
era.  But  much  of  the  latter  increase  was  only  nom- 
inal, under  the  military  conquests  of  Constantine, 
etc.    Taking,  therefore,  the  entire  Evangelical  popu- 


Statistical  Exhibits.  605 

lation  of  the  United  States,  as  we  have  already  fig- 
ured it,  numbering,  in  1890,  48,382,663,  and  we  see 
that  this  growth  here  in  ninety  years  exceeded  the 
growth  of  Christianity  in  the  first  eight  centuries  after 
Christ  by  an  excess  of  more  than  eighteen  millions. 
It  would  seem  that  no  mind  could  fail  to  be  im- 
pressed with  these  wonderful  facts  of  American  Pro- 
testantism, so  transcending  in  magnitude  and  signifi- 
cance any  thing  ever  before  seen  in  the  history  of 
Christianity.  But  those  who  have  written  the  heavy 
indictments  quoted  in  the  opening  chapter  of  this 
volume  must  be  either  wholly  ignorant  of  these  sta- 
tistical facts,  or  have  not  duly  studied  them,  or  are 
accustomed  to  flippantly  ignore  them,  as  only  mathe- 
matics, which  can  have  no  relation  to  religious  mat- 
ters. But  such  persons  overlook  the  almost  universal 
application  of  figures  to  all  departments  of  science, 
of  political,  moral,  and  social  life.-  We  summarize 
moral  tendencies  and  crime  in  statistical  tables,  an- 
alyze them,  and  deduce  conclusions.  Figures  repre- 
sent the  speed  and  momentum  of  material  bodies,  the 
weight  and  power  of  steam,  the  measure  of  gas  and 
heat,  the  forces  of  electricity,  etc.  As,  therefore,  the 
mathematical  formiil(2  of  chemistry  represent  the 
combinations  andoperationsof  material  elements, and 
those  of  astronomy  the  position  and  movementsof  the 
heavenly  bodies,  so  the  numerical  exhibits  of  ecclesi- 
astical bodies, carefull}'  analy^zed  and  combined,  repre- 
sent the  existence  and  operation  of  spiritual  forces; 


6o6      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

but  each  in  the  Hght  of  its  own  peculiar  sphere.  The 
statistics  which  we  have  given  are  those  of  rehgious 
phenomena.  On  the  principles  of  exact  science  they 
are  as  legitimate  and  indubitable,  in  their  sphere,  and 
as  worthy  of  classification,  as  any  other  phenomena. 

Is  it  said  that  there  are  certain  questionsof  religious 
vitality  and  spirituality,  of  Christian  character  and 
life,  which  are  not  indicated  by  figures  ;  that  the  type 
of  piety  is  manifestly  declining ;  that  the  average 
morality  of  the  communicants  of  these  Churches  and 
of  the  public  has  seriously  deteriorated  ;  and  that 
radical  changes  and  modifications  have  taken  place 
in  the  theology  of  these  denominations,  so  that  the 
statistics  of  to-day  do  not  stand  as  exponents  of  the 
same  ideas,  even  in  the  same  religious  bodies,  that 
they  did  fifty,  or  seventy-five,  or  a  hundred  years  ago? 

This  plausible  objection  has  been  anticipated  and 
considered  in  the  preceding  chapters  on  Faith,  Morals, 
and  Spiritual  Vitality,  in  which  it  has  been  demon- 
strated that,  whatever  imperfection  exists  in  these  re- 
spects, an  intelligent  analysis  of  modern  progress 
shows  a  great  advance  in  the  better  elements  of  piety 
and  morals.  The  existence  of  an  unabated  force, 
operating  even  more  powerfully  and  aggressively  dur- 
ing the  last  two  or  three  decades  than  at  any  previous 
period,  so  strikingly  exhibited  by  the  statistics  since 
1850,  is  a  fact  of  too  great  significance  to  be  lightly 
discarded  or  ignored  by  any  candid,  discriminating 
mind. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
FORKiaN    MISSIONS. 

Inception. 

Papal  and  Protestant  Mission  Fields. 

Foreign  Missions  of  the  United  States. 

Foreign  Missions  of  Christendom. 

Papal  and  Protestant  Missions. 

Missions  Vindicated  by  Testimony. 

Results. 


Statistical  Exhibits.  609 


CHAPTER  IV. 

FOREIGN    MISSIONS. 

THE  pessimistic  complaint  includes  foreign  mis- 
sions in  its  indictment,  and  talks  loudly  of  their 
failure.  "Why  such  tardy  results  from  such  vast 
expenditures  of  men  and  means  ?"  The  inquiry  con- 
tains the  fallacious  assumption  that  the  results  are 
meager — begs  the  question  ;  and  too  many  mission- 
ary discourses  make  admissions,  seriously  compro- 
mising the  cause  and  embarrassing  the  support  of 
the  laborers. 

Tested  by  ordinary  criteria,  Christian  missions  do 
not  suffer  by  comparison  with  moral  and  secular  en- 
terprises. Like  the  progress  of  mechanical  science, 
political  knowledge,  and  aesthetic  culture,  the  mis- 
sions of  Protestantism  have  advanced  with  rapid 
strides,  and  are  so  securely  planted  in  many  heathen 
countries,  that,  if  all  support  were  withdrawn,  they 
would  be  sustained  by  the  native  ministry  and 
membership  alone.  A  considerable  number  are 
already  self-sustaining. 

Protestant  foreign  missions  are  yet  in  cheir  in- 
fancy— almost  wholly  the  work  of  the  present  cent- 
ury.    The   few  feeble    efforts  antedating  the   year 


6io       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

1800  may  be  briefly  outlined  in  a  single  para- 
graph :  the  Swedish  movements  among  the  Lap- 
landers, under  the  patronage  of  Gustavus  Vasa  I.,  in 
the  early  days  of  Protestantism  ;  the  arbitrary  efforts 
of  the  Dutch,  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  to  convert  the  natives  of  Ceylon  to  Chris- 
tianity ;  the  more  spiritual,  but  only  temporarily 
successful,  labors  of  Robert  Junius,  beginning  in 
1634,  on  the  island  of  Formosa  ;  the  Indian  missions 
in  New  England  and  other  American  colonies,  com- 
mencing in  1646  under  Rev.  John  Eliot,  followed 
by  the  Mayhews,  Edwards,  Brainerd,  Wheelock, 
the  Moravians,  the  agents  of  the  "  Scottish  Society 
for  the  Promotion  of  Christian  Knowledge,"  etc. ; 
the  movements  of  the  London  "Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,"  or- 
ganized in  1701,  chiefly  for  English  colonists;  the 
missions  of  the  Danes,*  in  1705,  in  Southern  India,t 
subsequently  extending  to  Ceylon,  and  comprising, 
in  1775,  13  missionaries,  50  native  assistants,  633 
scholars,  and  1,000  communicants;  the  wonder- 
ful missions  of  the  Moravians,  beginning  in  1732, 
in  the  West  Lidies,  and  soon  after  in  Greenland ; 
and  the  Wesleyan  foreign  missions,  from  1760 
onward,   chiefly  under    the    management  of    Rev. 

*  These  missionaries  completed  a  translation  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment into  the  Tamil  language  in  171 5,  and  of  the  Old  Testament 
in  1726. 

f  Schwartz's  more  than  forty  years  of  heroic  missionary  labors 
were  performed  in  these  missions. 


Statisttcal  Exhibits.  6ii 

Thomas  Coke,  LL.D.,  but  more  formally  organized 
in  1813.  So  meager  was  the  exhibit  of  the  foreign 
missions  of  Protestantism  in  the  first  two  and  three 
fourths  centuries  of  its  existence. 

It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  period  pre- 
ceding the  full  inauguration  of  modern  missions 
was  one  of  the  darkest  in  the  history  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church,  and  the  darkest  in  the  history  of 
Protestantism.  The  Protestantism  of  the  Refor- 
mation had  spent  its  force.  Turned  back,  at  first, 
by  the  great  Papal  reaction,  in  which  the  famous 
Roman  Catholic  missions,  in  the  sixteenth  and  sev- 
enteenth centuries,  under  the  Franciscans,  the  Do- 
minicans, and  the  new  missionary  brotherhood  of 
the  Jesuits,  were  begun,  it  wasted  itself  in  internal 
conflicts,  lost  its  independence  by  alliance  with  the 
State,  and  even  entered  into  truce  with  its  invet- 
erate foes.  In  Great  Britain  the  Wesleyan  move- 
ment was  yet  in  its  infancy,  and  in  America  the 
feeble  Christian  life  was  sorely  taxed  in  a  struggle 
for  self-preservation.  About  one  hundred  years 
ago  the  aggressive  power  of  Protestantism  was  re- 
duced to  its  minimum. 

The  science,  the  philosophy,  and  the  culture  of 
that  age  were  almost  wholly  against  evangelical 
Christianity.  Never  before  nor  since  has  infidelity 
combined  relatively  so  much  wealth,  culture,  and 
power.  Hume's  acute  logic.  Gibbon's  historic 
learning   and   skill,   Paine 's  nameless   blasphemies, 


6i2       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Voltaire's  brilliant  wit  and  amazing  industry,  and 
the  French  Revolution,  with  its  mighty  sweep  of 
radical  revolt,  combined  to  subvert  the  popular 
belief  in  Christianity,  and  brand  the  Church  as  a 
creature  of  superstition  and  falsehood.  This  revolt 
did  not  wholly  spend  its  force  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  but  struggled  hard  in  the  first  quarter  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  against  the  new  incoming 
tides  of  spiritual  life  and  the  reviving  faith  in  the 
Churches.  After  1817,  in  the  course  of  a  few 
years,  5,768,900  volumes  of  the  works  of  Voltaire, 
Rousseau,  and  other  infidel  writers,  besides  count- 
less tracts,  were  circulated  on  the  continent  of 
Europe. 

The  new  mechanical  inventions  and  mighty 
forces,  since  subsidized  by  the  Churches  in  the  in- 
terests of  Christ's  kingdom,  were  then  unknown. 
No  steamship  plowed  any  ocean  or  river ;  magnetic 
telegraphs,  cylinder  presses,  and  railroads  were  un- 
born; and  the  commerce  of  nations  was  carried 
over  mountains  and  deserts  on  the  backs  of  mules 
and  dromedaries,  or  over  oceans  in  vessels  depend- 
ent upon  the  wind  and  tide.  But  exploration,  in- 
vention, ambition,  avarice,  commerce,  and  the 
sword — strangely  providential  factors  of  progress — 
have  wrought  out  changes  preparing  the  way,  and 
furnishing  new  means  and  opportunities  for  the 
spread  of  the  Gospel. 

In   1790  only  three  foreign  missionary  societies 


Statistical  Exhibits.  613 

existed  in  Europe,  and  none  in  America  ;  but  new 
life  was  pulsating.  In  1792  the  English  Baptist 
Missionary  Society  was  formed;  in  1795  the  Lon- 
don Missionary  Society,  in  1796  the  Scottish  and 
the  Glasgow  Societies,  in  1797  the  Netherlands' 
Society,  and  in  1799  the  Church  Missionary  So- 
ciety. These  societies  at  first  encountered  great 
unbelief  and  opposition  from  many  in  the  Churches 
and  ridicule  from  the  world.  Ecclesiastical  bodies 
in  Scotland  denounced  the  scheme  of  foreign  mis- 
sions as  "  illusive,"  "  visionary,"  and  **  dangerous," 
and  decreed  that  it  was  absurd  to  think  of  propa- 
gating the  Gospel  abroad,  "  so  long  as  there  re- 
mained a  single  individual  at  home  without  the 
means  of  religious  knowledge." 

After  the  year  1800  foreign  missions  received  a 
new  impulse,  both  in  Europe  and  America,  though 
they  still  encountered  opposition  and  ridicule.  Be- 
tween 1800  and  1830  sixteen  foreign  missionary 
societies  were  organized,  between  1830  and  1850 
thirty-three  more,  and,  at  the  present  time,  Prot- 
estantism numbers  over  seventy  *  foreign  boards, 
besides  numerous  subsidiary  organizations.  Nu- 
merous woman's  foreign  missionary  boards  have 
been  organized  in  the  United  States  since  1861, 
and  all  but  one  since  1868. 

*  Some  have  united. 


6 14       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Papal  and  Protestant  Mission  Funds. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church,  also,  since  its  mis- 
sionary revival,  after  the  discoveries  of  Columbus 
and  the  birth  of  Protestantism,  has  developed  or- 
ganizations for  the  spread  of  the  Papal  faith  :  First, 
in  connection  with  the  rise  of  the  Jesuits  and  their 
early  and  more  distinctively  missionary  labors, 
through  organized  movements  in  France,  large 
sums  of  money  were  raised  to  aid  the  Jesuit  mis- 
sions in  New  France,  as  Canada  was  then  called. 
The  motives  were  partly  religious,  but  chiefly 
prompted  by  wild  conceptions  of  the  illimitable 
extension  of  French  dominion  in  the  vast  terri- 
tories of  the  New  World,  for  which  the  Jesuits 
were  continually  scheming. 

The  Propaganda  at  Rome,  founded  in  1662  for 
the  training  of  men  for  the  missionary  priesthood ; 
the  famous  Propaganda  at  Lyons,  organized  in 
1822  ;  the  Leopold  Propaganda  at  Venice,  formed 
in  1829;  and  the  "Society  of  the  Holy  Childhood," 
with  special  reference  to  heathen  orphans,  formed 
soon  after  the  next  preceding,  comprise  the  mis- 
sionary organizations  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church.  In  recent  years  the  annual  receipts  of 
the  latter  have  been  about  $20O,0CK),  and  of  the 
Leopold  Society  $50,000.  The  Lyons  Society  re- 
ceived, in  1852,  $891,025;  in  1872,  $1,129,529;  in 
1879,  $1,206,325.     Total  receipts  of  the  latter  from 


Statistical  Exhibits.  615 

its  foundation  to  1879,  $36,943'935.  collected  from 
all  parts  of  the  world,  from  a  nominal  Catholic 
population  twice  as  great  as  that  of  Protestantism. 
The  Roman  Catholics  of  the  British  Isles  contrib- 
uted for  foreign  missions,  in  1879,  ^0>5^'''^  ^"'^ 
those  of  the  United  States  about  $15,000. 

What  sums  have  been  raised  by  the  Protestant 
foreign  missionary  societies  ?  Professor  Christliebf 
has  estimeited  that,  in  1800,  the  total  sum  annually 
contributed  in  all  Christendom  for  Protestant  mis- 
sions hardly  amounted  to  $250,000.  In  1850  the 
income  of  these  boards  in  Europe  and  America  was 
$2,959,541.16.:}:  In  1872  the  amount  had  increased 
to  $7,874,155,1  or  seven  times  as  much  as  the  re- 
ceipts of  the  Lyons  Propaganda  for  that  year. 

From  1852  to  1872  the  receipts  of  the  Lyons 
Propaganda  advanced  25  per  cent.,  and  of  the 
Protestant  boards  162  per  cent.  The  actual  in- 
crease of  the  Protestant  boards  during  that  time 
was  nearly  $5,000,000,  while  that  of  the  Lyons 
Propaganda  was  about  $230,000.  The  aggregate 
receipts  of  the  Protestant  foreign  missionary  socie- 
ties have  become  marvelous. 

*  See  "  Kalendar  of  the  English  Church,"  for  1881,  p.  265. 

\  "  Protestant  Foreign  Missions,"  Randolph  &  Co.,  New  York, 
1880,  p.  18. 

\  "Christian  Retrospect  and  Register,"  App.,  Rev.  R.  Baird,  D.D. 

g"  Statistics  of  Protestant  Missions,"  by  Rev.  W.  B.  Boyce. 
London,  1874.  See  also  article  on  Missions  in  M'Clintock  & 
Strong's  Cyclopaedia. 


6i6      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

The  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Protestant 
Churches  of  the  United  States. 

The  following  table*  will  impressively  exhibit  the 
aggregate  receipts  received  by  the  foreign  mission- 
ary societies  since  the  origin  of  each  : 

Years.  Amount.  Average  Yearly. 

1810-1819 $206,201  $20,621 

1820-1829 745,718  74,571 

1830-I839 2,885,839  288,583 

1840-1849 5,078,922  507,892 

1850-1859 8,427,284  842,728 

1860-1869.  .  .  . 13,074.129  1,307,412 

1 870-1 880  (11  years).  ..  .  24,861,482  2,266,143 

1881-1894(13!    "    ) 48,390,389  3,282,251 

Not  reported  by  periods.  2,200,000  

Total $101,561,964 

From  1 88 1  to  1894,  $48,390,389  were  received, 
which  is  five  and  a  half  times  more  than  was  re- 
ceived in  the  forty  years  from  i8ioto  1850.  Ninety- 
two  per  cent,  of  the  aggregate  for  eighty-four  years 
has  been  received  in  the  last  forty  years — all  for 
foreign  missions. 

What  results  can  the  foreign  mission  societies  of 
the  United  States  show  for  these  remarkable  ex- 
penditures? 

By  the  aid  of  Tables  XLV  to  XLVIII,  in  the 
Appendix,  the  following  exhibit  is  made  : 

1850.  1880.  1893. 

Missions 77  129              

Principal  stations 196  758  691 

Sub-stations 3-925  4,835 

Laborers 1,267  5,959  16,105 

Communicants 47,266  205,132  301,904 

Day-schools 883  1,392  5,600 

Pupils 29,210  65,825  179,087 

*  See  Table  XLVI,  in  the  Appendix. 


Statistical  Exhibits.  617 

The  foregoing  exhibit  needs  no  comments.  Over 
16,105  laborers,  laboring  in  5,526  stations  and  sub- 
stations, and  301,904  communicants,  an  increase  in 
the  latter  item  of  fifty  per  cent,  since  1880  is  full  of 
encouragement. 

Total  Protestant  Foreign  Missions  of 
Europe  and  America. 

By  the  aid  of  Tables  XLIV  to  XLIX,  in  the 
Appendix,  the  following  imperfect  exhibit  is  tabu- 
lated : 

1830-     1850.     1880.     1893. 

Missions 120  178  504 


Principal  stations  .. .  502  700  5.763 

Sub-stations 12,476 

Ordained  ministers.  .  656  1,672  6,6g6 

Total  laborers 1,892  5,728  40,552  62,051 

Communicants 70,289         210,957         857,332         1,222,605 

Few  persons  can  appreciate  the  difficulty  in  get- 
ting statistics  from  so  wide  a  field,  and  brin^ino- 
together  the  divers  materials  into  a  table.  It  is 
probable  that  the  total  stations  and  sub-stations 
number  over  25.000,  the  laborers  75,000,  and  the 
communicants  2,000,000.  The  adherents  doubtless 
number  3,000,000  to  5,000,000. 

How  vast  the  extent  of  Protestant  missions? 
On  the  continent  of  North  America,  in  Mexico, 
Central  America,  Greenland,  Labrador,  the  Hudson 
Bay  region,  among  the  aborigines  in  British  Amer- 
ica and  the  United  States,  and  the  Chinese  in  Cali- 
fornia  ;  on  the  continent  of  South  America,  in  New 

40 


6i8      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Granada,  Brazil,  Peru,  Chili,  Uruguay,  the  Argentine 
Republic,  Guiana,  the  contiguous  Falkland  Islands, 
and  Terra  del  Fuego ;  on  the  continent  of  Europe, 
among  the  rationalistic.  Papal,  Jewish,  and  Moham- 
medan populations  in  Scandinavia,  Germany,  Aus- 
tria, Bohemia,  Hungary,  Croatia,  Slavonia,  Holland, 
Belgium,  Switzerland,  France,  Italy,  Spain,  Portu- 
gal, Turkey,  Greece,  Roumania,  and  Bulgaria ;  on 
the  continent  of  Africa,  in  Egypt,  Tunis,  Algiers, 
Abyssinia,  Zanzibar;  in  368  stations  and  I,II2  sub- 
stations all  over  South  Africa;  in  135  stations  and 
454  sub-stations  in  Central  and  Western  Africa;  on 
the  continent  of  Asia,  in  Turkey,  Syria,  Palestine, 
Persia,  in  46  principal  and  more  than  383  sub-sta- 
tions;  in  India,  in  418  principal  and  1,032  sub-sta- 
tions; in  China,  in  Thibet,  Japan,  Burmah,  Siam, 
"  the  Straits  Settlements,"  and  the  Indian  Archi- 
pelago ;  on  the  islands  of  the  Atlantic,  the  Baha- 
mas, the  Bermudas,  and  the  West  Indies ;  in  Mada- 
gascar and  Mauritius;  on  300  islands  in  Polynesia; 
and  all  over  the  mighty  world  of  Australasia, 
75,000  Christian  workers  are  toiling,  and  great  mul- 
titudes are  rising  up  as  witnesses  for  Christ. 

Roman  Catholic  and  Protestant 
Missions. 

In  the  mission  fields  long  occupied  by  Romanism, 
Protestant  missions,  starting  much  later,  are  gaining 
rapidly  upon  the    Roman   Catholic ;    while  in  the 


Statistical  Exhibits.  619 

newer,  simultaneously  opened  to  both,  the  Papal 
missions  are  making  slow  progress.  A  few  facts  in 
regard  to  two  of  the  older  and  two  of  the  later  fields 
will  show  the  relative  progress  and  work  of  Papal 
and  Protestant  missions. 

China,  one  of  the  oldest  Roman  Catholic,  and  one 
of  the  latest  Protestant  mission  grounds,  has  been 
sometimes  referred  to  by  the  English  press  and  by 
travelers  in  terms  of  disparagement  to  Protestant- 
ism. They  point  to  the  400,000  Roman  Catholic,* 
and  the  small  number  of  Protestant,  converts,  over- 
looking the  fact  that  Roman  Catholic  missions  be- 
gan in  China  in  1589,  when  Protestantism  was  in  its 
infancy,  eighteen  years  before  the  first  permanent 
settlement  in  the  United  States,  and  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years  before  the  first  Protestant  mission 
in  China.  In  this  long  period  of  nearly  three  hun- 
dred years  the  Roman  Catholic  missions,  though 
sometimes  persecuted,  were  generally  favored  by 
the  imperial  government,  from  which  they  have 
received  grants  of  lands,  buildings,  etc.  By  a  quasi 
recognition   of  Chinese  idolatry  and  customs  they 

*  Rev.  Dr.  Legge  said  :  "  Possibly  the  adherents  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  missions  in  China  amount  to  nearly  half  a  million,  though, 
according  to  the  '  Bulletin  des  Missions  Catholiques '  for  1876,  they 
were  then  only  404,550,  and  a  priest  in  Chinan,  capital  of  Shan- 
tung told  me,  in  1873,  that  their  annu.il  increase  all  over  China  was 
only  about  2,000."  "Give  us  three  hundred  years  to  work  in,  and 
the  adhereiits  of  Protestant  missions  will  far  transcend  the  present 
number  of  Romish  Christians." 


620      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

have  conciliated  the  civil  power,  but  have  weakened 
their  religious  influence,  and  failed  to  truly  Chris- 
tianize and  elevate  the  people. 

Protestantism  gained  its  first,  but  only  tentative, 
footholds  in  China  about  sixty-five  years  ago,  and 
was  restricted  to  five  specific  ports  until  the  treaty 
of  1858-60.  Prior  to  that  time  we  could  only  think 
of  Protestant  missions  "  as  dotted  here  and  there 
along  the  coast,"  hardly  anywhere  penetrating  fifty 
or  a  hundred  miles  into  the  interior.  In  1872  there 
were  26  Protestant  missions,  with  337  principal 
and  sub-stations  and  about  9,000  communicants  in 
China.  During  the  past  few  years  these  missions 
have  greatly  increased,  never  more  rapidly  and  sub- 
stantially than  during  the  last  twenty  years.  No 
set  of  statistics  suffices  for  many  years  because  they 
are  so  soon  outgrown.  Said  Dr.  Legge,*  in  1878: 
"The  converts  have  multiplied  in  thirty-five  years 
two  thousand  fold,  the  rate  of  increase  being  greater 
year  after  year.  Suppose  it  to  continue  the  same 
for  other  thirty-five  years,  and  in  A.  D.  191 3  there 
will  be  in  China  26,000,000  of  communicants,  and  a 
professedly  Christian  population  of  loo,ooo,000." 

As  to  the  Chinese  converts.  Rev.  Dr.  Legge,  who 
will  be  accepted  as  the  very  best  authority,  said :  f 
"  It  has  been  asked,  in  deprecation  or  depreciation 

*  "  Proceedings  of  General  Conference  of  Foreign  Missions,"  1879, 
p.  177.     London  :  Jolin  F.  Shaw  &  Co.,  publishers. 
f  Ibid.,  p.  173. 


Statistical  Exhibits.  621 

of  my  statements,  '  But  what  is  the  character  of 
these  thirteen  thousand  communicants?  Can  they 
be  accepted  as  real  Christians — as  true  converts?' 
It  would  take  long  to  explain  how  it  has  come 
about  that  a  bad  report  of  the  constituency  of  mis- 
sion Churches  has  gone  widely  abroad  ;  but  I  do 
not  hesitate  to  declare  that  it  is  wantonly  untrue 
and  unjust.  When  administering  the  communion 
to  a  Church  of  English-speaking  members  that 
were  under  my  charge  in  Hong-Kong,  I  often  spoke 
to  them  to  this  effect, '  In  the  afternoon  your  places 
before  me  will  be  occupied  by  the  members  of  the 
Chinese  Church.  I  have  confidence  in  you  as 
Christian  men  and  women,  but  I  shall  not  have  less 
confidence  in  our  Chinese  brethren  and  sisters.'  .  .  . 
There  are  fallings  away  among  the  Chinese  Chris- 
tians. They  have,  also,  some  peculiar  weaknesses 
and  inconsistencies.  But  these  things  cannot  be 
said  of  them  more  than  of  the  members  of  the 
Churches  among  ourselves.  .  .  .  Yes,  the  converts 
are  real.  Your  missionaries,  in  receiving  them,  and 
watching  over  them,  are  careful  and  strict.  If  they 
err,  it  is  in  being  overscrupulous,  rather  than  in 
being  lax." 

Insisting  upon  a  considerable  acquaintance  with 
the  doctrines  of  Christianity,  a  renunciation  of  every 
form  of  idolatry,  and  good  evidence  of  a  moral 
change,  as  conditions  of  baptism,  Protestant  prog- 
ress means  moral  reformation  and  elevation,  as  well 


622      Problem  of  Reltoious  Progress. 

as  intellectual  enlightenment.  Many  social  changes 
and  modifications  of  life  also  follow. 

A  recent  traveler*  in  China,  in  his  observations 
upon  the  Papal  missions  in  that  country,  said : 
"They  manifest  no  intelligent  zeal  for  the  enlight- 
enment and  elevation  of  the  people.  Few,  if  any, 
of  the  priests  possess  that  noble  ambition  which 
characterized  their  predecessors,  Ricci,  Schaal,  Ver- 
biest,  and  others.  I  have  never  observed  any  indi- 
cations among  them  of  men  grappling  with  the  lan- 
guage, and  girding  themselves  with  ardor  to  over- 
throw the  mighty  evils  which  are  stalking  abroad 
among  the  natives.  As  a  rule,  they  content  them- 
selves with  superintending  native  priests  and  cate- 
chists,  and  other  purely  official  duties.  They  never 
preach,  nor  publish  any  books.  .  .  .  -We  are  thus 
left  in  a  great  measure  dependent  upon  Protestant 
missions  for  the  advancement  of  knowledge,  civil- 
ization, and  true  progress  among  the  people.  This 
department  has  not  failed  us." 

Protestant  missionaries  "  have  given  their  days 
and  nights  to  the  study  of  the  Chinese  language, 
day  by  day  have  preached  to  the  people,  thus 
spreading  light  in  all  directions,  arousing  generous 
impulses,  and  training  up  converts  to  be  well- 
informed,  truth-seeking  men  and  women.  'To 
such  men,'  says  the  '  Supreme  Court  and  Consular 
Gazette,'  (Nov.  14,  1868,)  'are  we  indebted  for 
*  Alexander  Williamson's  "Journeys  in  North  China." 


Statistical  Exhibits.  623 

more  than  nine  tenths  of  our  knowledge  of  China 
and  the  Chinese.'"  They  have  thus  opened  the 
inner  Hfe  of  the  nation  to  the  world. 

Not  to  speak  of  the  long,  patient  studies  and 
elaborate  productions  of  Morrison.  Milne.  Med- 
hurst,  and  Legge,  of  the  translations  of  the  Script- 
ures and  other  religious  books  into  Chinese,  of  the 
dictionaries  and  grammars  now  in  common  use,  of 
the  "  lesson  books,"  the  schools,  and  weekly  period- 
icals; all  the  work  of  Protestant  missionaries,  numer- 
ous works  of  science  also  have  been  translated  into 
Chinese  by  these  devoted  laborers.  Dr.  Hobson 
has  given  them  works  on  physiology,  surgery,  med- 
icine, chemistry,  and  natural  philosophy ;  Mr.  Wylie, 
Euclid,  algebra,  arithmetic,  geometry,  calculus, 
Herschel's  large  Astronomy  and  Newton's  Principia  ; 
Mr.  Edkins,  Whewell's  Mechanics  and  works  on 
Western  literature ;  Mr.  Muirhead,  English  history 
and  universal  geography;  Dr.  Bridgeman,  an  illus- 
trated history  of  the  United  States ;  Dr.  Martin, 
Wheaton's  International  Law,  and  illustrated  vol- 
umes on  chemistry,  natural  philosophy,  etc.  More 
even  may  be  said.  Many  of  these  works  have  been 
reprinted  verbatim,  by  native  gentlemen,  attesting 
their  literary  accuracy  ;  and  some  of  them  have  been 
reproduced  in  Japan  by  the  Japanese.  This  has  been 
done  mainly  since  1850.  Romanism  shows  no  such 
results,  after  a  three  hundred  years*  occupancy  of 
(vhina.     It  is  plain  that,  with  this  preparatory  work, 


624      Problem  of  Religious  ProgresSo 

so  directly  affecting  the  best  thought  of  the  nation, 
the  future  of  China  must  belong  to  Protestantism. 

Roman  Catholic  missions  in  India  date  back 
almost  to  the  discovery  of  America,  to  the  conquest 
of  God,  by  the  Portuguese,  in  1510,  and  were  at  first 
conducted  by  the  Franciscans  and  the  Dominicans. 
The  arrival  of  St.  Francis  Xavier,  in  1542,  gave 
them  a  new  impulse.  "  Vicarate  Apostolics,"  or  in- 
choate dioceses,  were  established  in  Verapoli,  in 
1659;  in  Bombay  and  Poona,  in  1660;  in  Further 
India,  in  1624;  in  Southern  Burmah,  in  1722,  etc. 
After  370  years  of  mission  work,  Romanism  reports,* 
in  all  India,  Ceylon,  Burmah,  Siam,  and  *'  the  Mala- 
bar coasts :" 

Bishops  and  archbishops 19 

Priests 1,009 

Catholic  schools 1,192 

Scholars 51.781 

Roman  Catholic  population  (estimated) 1,046,932 

Protestantism,  within  the  same  limits,  after  180 
years  since  a  few  Danish  missionaries  began  their 
labors  in  South  India,  and,  for  the  most  part,  after 
less  than  ninety  years  of  labor,  reported :  f 

Statistics    Mis''ns  not 
Missions  (in  India,  Burmah,  Siam,  and       in  x88o.     reporting. 

Ceylon) 74 

Principal  stations 562  3 

Sub-stations 1,642  4I 

Ordained  ministers,  foreign  and  native. .  '<I37  6 

•  Sadlier's  Catholic  Almanac  and  Directory,  1879,  Part  ii,  p.  135. 
I  See  Table  X^LVI  in  Appendix. 


Statistical  Exhibits.  625 

Statistics      Mis'ns  not 
in  1880.       reporting. 
Lay  assistants,  foreign  and  native 7.093         ii 

Total  workers 8,230  17 

Communicants 126,409  4 

Hearers 246,018  28 

Day-schools 3, 741  18 

Day-school  pupils 181,945  14 

These  statistics  show  that  the  Protestant  missions 
are  rapidly  outgrowing  the  Roman  Catholic.  Prot- 
estant ministers  already  outnumber  the  Roman 
Catholic;  and  the  day-school  pupils  of  Protestant- 
ism are  three  and   a  half  times  as  many  as  theirs. 

The  "Statesman's  Year-Book  "  for  1894  gives  the 
followini^  statistics  from  the  census  of  1891  : 

Population  in  all  the  Presidencies,  Provinces,  and  States 
OF  India. 


Hindus 207,731,727 

Sikhs 1,907,833 

Jains 1,416,638 

Buddhists 7,131,361 

Parsees 89,904 

Mohammedans  ....  57,321,164 


Christians 2,284,380 

Jews 17.194 

Animistic 9,280,467 

Others 42,763 


Total 287,223,431 


In  1 88 1  the  Christians  were  reported  in  the  cen- 
sus as  897,216. 

The  2,284,380  Christians  in  the  census  of  1891 
are  divided  as  follows: 

Roman  Catholics 1,315,263 

Church  of  England 295,016 

Presbyterians 40,407 

Dissenters 296,938 

Other  Protestants 63,967 


Total  Protestants 696,328 

Syrians,  Armenians,  and  Greeks. . .  201,684 


626      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


Protestant  Missionary  Work  in  Japan  for  the  Year  1893. 

(Compiled  by  Rev.  H.  Loomis,  Yokohama  J 


i 

M 

'Ja 

T3 

C 

native 
1  pur- 
year, 
S4  CtH. 

•— ^ 

-^ 

u 

^""-C    II 

X 

0    u  *^   C 

Name  of  Mission. 

.B 

V 

V 

s:ir 

< 
0 

'u 

2  > 

c 
0 

•a 
< 

-d  '£. 

tributio 

bristian 

ises  dui 

A-en. 

2 

"o 

M^ 

B 

3 

0 

V.X 

=  U  P.5 

> 

M 

w 

0 

H 

0 

0 

Presbyterian  Church  of  the  U.  S 

1859 
1859 
1874 

6? 

29 
2 

5 

I 

15 

.82 

5 
"6 

|ill,I26 

103 

13,392 

32 

1879 
1885 
1871 
1877 
1892 

a 

Presb.  Church  in  the  U.  S.  (South)  .. 

5 

I 
4 

I 

4 
14 
2 

.. 
9 

I 

Evangelical  Lutheran  Mission, U.  S 

7 

5 

00 

American  Prot.  Epis.  Churcht 

i8so 

^B 

6 

36 

1,529 

33 

4,935 

65 

Church  Missionary  Society 

i86q 

72 

n 

46 

2,652 

94 

3,089 

09 

1873 

26 

3 

7 

945 

37 

Society  for  the  Prop,  of  the  Gospel. 

986 

07 

Wycliffe  Cnlleee  Rlission  (Canada). 

1888 

5 

I 

1 

31 

2 

34 

63 

American  Baptist  Missionary  Union. . 

i860 

47 

8 

73 

1.547 

.59 

1,022 

14 

Disciples  of  Christ 

188 1( 

16 

I 

7 

372 

7 

264.48 

Christian  Church  of  America:): 

18S7 

3 

I 

S 

199 

8 

126 

00 

Baptist  Southern  Convention 

1889 

4 

2 

3 

31 

4 

20 

00 

Kumi-ai  Churches,  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.§.  . . 

1869 

«3 

13 

202 

11,110 

94 

21,667 

92 

American  Meth.  Epis.  Churcht 

187.S 

bb 

10 

30 

4,034 

8b 

10,149 

14 

Canadian  Methodist  Churcht 

1873 

34 

7 

12 

1,987 

b4 

4,374 

81 

Evan.  Assoc,  of  North  America 

1876 

10 

2 

9 

610 

14 

1,040 

Hb 

Methodist  Protestant  ChurchJ 

1880 

19 

3 

8 

263 

5 

713 

43 

American  Meth.  Epis.  Church,  South 

i88b 

40 

9 

14 

507 

14 

375 

00 

The  Scandinavian  Japan  Alliance 

.8gi 

IS 

II 

12 

12 

General  Evan.  Prot.  (German-Swiss). 

1885 

4 

3 

194 

I 

no 

00 

Society  of  Friends,  U.  S 

1885 

b 

3 

51 

b 

30 

00 

International  Missionary  Alliance.. . . 

1891 
1880 
1890 

4 

I 
5 
3 

2 

6 
7 

103 
100 

8 
3 
I 

100 

00 

Total  of  Protestant  Missions,  1893 

643 

125 

644 

37,398 

665 

62,416 

73 

Total  of  Protestant  Missions,  i8g2 

602 

ii9|   537 

35,534 

460 

63,337 

00 

41 

6    107 

1,864 

205 

This  is  a  sample  of  tables  which  might  be  given 
for  China,  India,  Africa,  etc. 

*  Statistics  to  August  30,  1893.  f  To  June  30,  1893. 

X  To  August  I,  1893.  §  To  March  31,  1893. 

11  Including  1,474  classed  as  "children." 


Statistical  Exhibits.  627 

Australasia. 

In  Australia  one  hundred  years  ago  there  was 
not  a  single  civilized  man  where  there  are  now  fully 
two  millions.  All  the  vast  world  of  Australasia  was 
in  a  similar  condition. 

In  1879  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  had  in  all 
Australasia  285  priests,  135  schools,  and  12,379 
scholars,  3  dioceses  not  reporting  the  last  item.  In 
1880  Protestantism  had, 

St.itistics  Missions 

for  1880.  not  reporting. 

Missions 17 

Principal  stations 1,251  2 

Sul)-slations 891  12 

Ordained  ministers,  native  and  foreign.  .  429 

Lay  assistants,  native  and  foreign ijSs  il 

Total  laborers 2,214  1 1 

Communicants 33.143  2 

Hearers 229,955  6 

Day-schools 26  14 

Pupils 3,658  II 

Census  of  Australia  and  New  Zealand. 

1871.  189J. 

Protestants l,3i7.3io  2,806,508 

Roman  Catholics 412,802  799-559 

All  others 138,802  203,828 

In  Australia  the  Church  of  England  numbers 
1,252,842  adherents;  the  Methodists,  371,582;  the 
Presbyterians,  352,007,  etc. 

Other  recently  occupied  fields  show  a  similar  nu- 
merical superiority  of  Protestantism.  Only  in  fields 
occupied  several  hundred  years  ago  by  Romanism, 
and  less  than  a  century  by  Protestantism,  has  Ro- 
manism any  preponderance.      In  respect  to  moral 


628      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

renovation,  enlightenment,  and  social  elevation, 
Protestant  mission  communities  are  incomparably 
superior  to  those  of  the  Papal  Church. 

Missions  Vindicated  by  Testimony, 

Testimonies  of  the  highest  authority  have  at- 
tested the  genuine  worth,  high  character,  and  real 
progress  of  Christian  missions.  A  few  brief  extracts 
from  an  official  statement  in  the  English  "  Parlia- 
mentary Blue  Book,"  in  1873,  ought  not  to  be 
omitted: 

The  mission  presses  in  India  are  twenty-five  in  number. 
During  the  years  between  1852  and  1862  they  issued  1,634,940 
copies  of  the  Scriptures,  chiefly  single  books;  and  8,604,033 
tracts,  school-books,  and  books  for  general  circulation.  Dur- 
ing the  ten  years  between  1862  and  1872  they  issued  3,410  new 
works,  in  thirty  languages  ;  and  circulated  1,315,503  copies  of 
books  of  Scripture,  2,375,040  school-books,  and  8,750,129  Chris- 
tian books  and  tracts.  ...  A  very  large  number  of  Christian 
communities  scattered  over  India  are  small,  especially  in  the 
country  towns :  and  they  contain  fewer  than  a  hundred  com- 
municants, and  three  hundred  converts  of  all  ages.  At  the 
same  time  some  of  these  small  congregations  consist  of  edu- 
cated men,  have  considerable  resources,  and  are  able  to  provide 
for  themselves.  From  them  have  sprung  a  large  number  of 
native  clergy  and  ministers  in  diflferent  Churches,  who  have  re- 
ceived a  high  education  in  English  institutions,  and  who  are 
now  taking  a  prominent  place  in  the  instruction  and  manage- 
ment of  our  indigenous  Christian  Church.   .  .  . 

Taking  them  together,  these  rural  and  aboriginal  populations 
of  India,  which  have  received  a  large  share  of  the  attention  of 
the  missionary  societies,  now  contain  among  them  a  quarter 
of  a  million  native  Christian  converts.     The  principles  they 


ID  I  ^-.  (3- IB -^  2^<E      23:2C-^I- 

1  UK  World's  Pot-iLAiioN  Ci.assikikd. 
Total,  1,500,000,000. 

Each  tiny  K<)uare  represents  1.000,000. 

Tlie  tlirce  white  square-  rcprc:>eiit  converts  from  paganism. 


Mohammedans.  185.000,000. 


EOSiSiiniiiiiiiliilliiliiii! 


Spiritual  Vitality.  629 

profess,  the  standard  of  morals  at  which  they  aim,  the  educa- 
tion and  training  which  they  receive,  make  them  no  unimport- 
ant element  in  the  empire  which  the  government  of  India  has 
under  its  control.  These  populations  must  greatly  influence 
the  communities  of  which  they  form  a  part ;  they  are  thoroughly 
loyal  to  the  British  crown ;  and  the  experience  through  which 
many  have  passed  has  proved  that  they  are  governed  by  solid 
principle  in  the  conduct  they  pursue.  .   .  . 

Insensibly  a  higher  standard  of  moral  conduct  is  becoming 
familiar  to  the  people,  especially  to  the  young,  which  has  been 
set  before  them,  not  merely  by  public  teaching,  but  by  the 
millions  of  printed  books  and  tracts  scattered  widely  through 
the  country.  .  .  .  And  they  augur  well  of  the  future  moral 
progress  of  the  native  population  of  India,  from  these  signs  of 
solid  advance  already  exhibited  on  every  hand,  and  gained 
within  the  brief  period  of  two  generations.  This  view  of  the 
general  influence  of  their  teaching,  and  of  the  greatness  of  the 
revolution  which  it  is  silently  producing,  is  not' taken  by  mis- 
sionaries only ;  it  has  been  accepted  by  many  distinguished 
residents  in  India  and  experienced  officers  of  the  government, 
and  has  been  emphatically  indorsed  by  Sir  Bartle  Frere. 

The  following  is  Sir  Bartle  Frere's  testimony : 

I  assure  you  that,  whatever  you  may  be  told  to  the  contrary, 
the  teaching  of  Christianity  among  the  one  hundred  and  sixty 
millions  of  civilized  industrious  Hindus  and  Mohammedans  in 
India,  is  effecting  changes,  moral,  social,  and  political,  which, 
for  extent  and  rapidity  of  effect,  are  far  more  extraordinary 
than  any  thing  you  or  your  fathers  have  witnessed  in  modern 
Europe. 

Lord  Lawrence,  Viceroy  and  Governor-General 
of  India,  said : 

I  believe,  notwithstanding  all  that  the  English  people  have 
done  to  benefit  India,  the  missionaries  have  done  more  than  all 
other  agencies  combined. 


630      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

"  The  Friend  of  India  and  Statesman,"  Calcutta, 
April  25,  1879,  contains  a  remarkable  lecture  deliv- 
ered by  Baboo  Keshub  Chunder  Sen,  the  leading 
man  in  the  Church  of  Brhum,  in  which  this  high 
official  bears  the  following  generous  testimony  in 
favor  of  Christian  missions : 

Is  not  a  new  and  aggressive  civilization  winning  its  way  day 
after  day,  and  year  after  year,  into  tlie  very  heart  and  soul  of  the 
people  ?  Are  not  Christian  ideas  and  institutions  taking  their 
root,  on  all  sides,  in  the  soil  of  India?  Has  not  a  Christian 
government  taken  possession  of  its  cities,  its  provinces,  its  vil- 
lages ;  with  its  hills  and  plains,  its  rivers  and  seas,  its  homes 
and  hearths,  its  teeming  millions  of  men  and  women  and  chil- 
dren ?  Yes  !  the  advancing  surges  of  a  mighty  revolution  are 
encompassing  the  land  ;  and,  in  the  name  of  Christ,  strange  in- 
novations and  reforms  are  penetrating  the  very  core  of  India's 
heart.  Well  may  our  fatherland  sincerely,  earnestly,  ask, 
'Who  is  this  Christ?" 

Who  rules  India  ?  What  power  is  that  that  sways  the  des- 
tinies of  India  at  the  present  moment?  You  are  mistaken  if 
you  think  that  it  is  Lord  Lytton  in  the  cabinet,  or  the  military 
genius  of  Sir  Frederick  Haines  in  the  field,  that  rules  India.  It 
is  not  politics,  it  is  not  diplomacy,  that  has  laid  a  firm  hold  of 
the  Indian  heart.  It  is  not  the  glittering  bayonet,  nor  the  fiery 
cannon  that  influences  us.  .  .  .  Armies  never  conquered  the 
heart  of  the  nation.  No !  If  you  wish  to  secure  the  attach- 
ment and  allegiance  of  India,  it  must  be  by  exercishig  spiritual 
and  moral  influence.  And  such,  indeed,  has  been  the  case  in 
India.  You  cannot  deny  that  our  hearts  have  been  touched, 
conquered,  and  subjugated  by  a  superior  power.  That  power 
is  Christ !  Christ  rules  British  India,  and  not  the  British  Gov- 
ernment. England  has  sent  us  a  tremendous  moral  force  m 
the  life  and  character  of  that  mighty  Prophet  to  conquer  and 
hold  this  vast  empire.     None  but  Jesus,  none  but  Jesus,  none 


Statistical  Exhibits.  631 

but  Jesus  ever  deserved  this  bright,  this  precious  diadem- 
India  ;  and  Christ  shall  have  it. 

India  is  unconsciously  imbibing  this  new  civilization,  suc- 
cumbing to  its  irresistible  influence.  It  is  not  the  British  army, 
I  say  again,  that  deserves  honor  for  holding  India.  If  to  any 
army  appertains  that  honor,  that  army  is  the  army  of  Christian 
missionaries,  headed  by  their  invincible  Captain,  Jesus  Christ. 
Their  devotion,  their  self-abnegation,  their  philanthropy,  their 
love  of  God,  their  attachment  and  allegiance  to  the  truth,  all 
these  have  found,  and  will  continue  to  find,  a  deep  place  in  the 
gratitude  of  our  countrymen.  It  is  needless  for  me  to  bestow 
eulogium  upon  such  tried  friends  and  benefactors  of  our 
country. 

Mr.  Robert  Mackenzie  has  said :  * 

The  greatest  of  all  fields  of  missionary  labor  is  India.  .  .  . 
For  fifty  years  Hindu  youth  in  increasing  numbers  have  re- 
ceived an  English  education.  A  revolution  of  extraordinary 
magnitude  has  been  silently  in  progress  during  those  years, 
and  even  now  points  decisively  to  the  ultimate,  although  still 
remote,  overthrow  of  Hindu  beliefs  and  usages.  A  vast  body 
of  educated  and  influential  natives  acknowledge  that  their  an- 
cient faith  is  a  mass  of  incredibilities.  A  public  ooinion  has 
been  created,  by  whose  help  such  practices  as  infanticide  and 
the  burning  of  widows  have  been  easily  suppressed.  .  .  . 
Through  the  open  gateway  of  the  English  language  English 
knowledge  and  ideas  and  principles  are  being  poured  into 
India.  .  .  .  The  Hindu  mind  is  awakening  from  its  sleep  of 
ages.  ...  A  higher  moral  tone  is  becoming  familiar  to  the 
people.  .  .  . 

England  has  undertaken  to  rescue  from  the  debasement  ot 
ages  that  enormous  multitude  of  human  beings.  No  enter- 
prise of  equal  greatness  was  ever  engaged  in  by  any  people. 
Generaiions  will  pass  away  while  it  is  still  in  progress,  but  its 

*  The  "Nineteenth  Century."  Franklin  Square  Library,  pp. 
39,  45. 


632      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

final  success  cannot  be  frustrated.  We  who  watch  it  in  its 
early  stages  see  mainly  imperfections.  Posterity  will  look 
only  upon  the  majestic  picture  of  a  vast  and  utterly  barbaric 
population,  numbering  well  nigh  one  fourth  of  the  human 
family,  subdued,  governed,  educated.  Christianized,  and  led  up 
to  the  dignity  of  a  free,  self-governing  nation  by  a  handful  o( 
strangers,  who  came  from  an  inconsiderable  island  15,000 
miles  away. 

Mr.  Mackenzie  says  of  the  missions  of  South 
Africa :  * 

Southern  Africa  was  the  home  of  the  Bechuanas,  a  fierce, 
warlike  race,  cruel,  treacherous,  delighting  in  blood.  No  trav- 
eler could  go  among  them  with  safety ;  they  refused  even  to 
trade  with  strangers.  They  had  no  trace  of  a  religion,  no 
belief  in  any  being  greater  than  themselves,  no  idea  of  a  future 
life.  .  .  .  Christianity  is  now  almost  universal  among  the  Bechu- 
anas. Education  is  rapidly  extending ;  natives  are  being 
trained  in  adequate  numbers  for  teachers  and  preachers ; 
Christianity  is  spreading  out  among  the  neighboring  tribes. 
The  Bechuanas  have  been  changed  by  Christian  missions  into 
an  orderly,  industrious  people,  who  cultivate  their  fields  in 
peace,  and  maintain  with  foreigners  a  mutually  beneficial 
traffic. 

Rev.  S.  J.  Whitmee,  missionary  at  Samoa,  saidrf 

At  the  present  time  we  have  in  Polynesia  nearly  two  hun- 
dred ordained  native  ministers  doing,  in  some  respects,  more 
than  the  English  and  American  missionaries.  I  have  had  the 
honor  of  placing  some  of  these  men,  as  pioneer  missionaries, 
on  heathen  islands,  among  the  native  savages.  Then  I  have 
atterward  seen  what  God  has  done  by  their  agency.     Whole 

*  The  "  Nineteenth  Century."     Franklin  Square  Library,  p.  19. 
t  Volume  of  "London  Conference  of  Foreign  Missions,"  1878, 
p.  200. 


Statistical  Exhibits.  6^t, 

populations  of  islands  and  groups  of  islands  have  been  brought 
out  of  idolatr)',  and  have  received  Christianity  and  civilization, 
and  all  through  the  agency,  not  of  Englishmen,  but  of  native 
missionaries.  They  are  Polynesians,  who  have  received  the 
Gospel  themselves,  whose  hearts  the  grace  of  (}od  has  touched, 
who  have  been  trained  in  native  colleges,  and  who  have  then 
gone  as  missionaries  to  preach  the  unsearchable  riches  of 
Christ  to  their  heathen  fellow-islanders. 

Again  : 

Christianity  has,  also,  become  a  power  for  good,  in  most  of 
our  older  missions,  over  the  people  generally.  Public  morality 
has  been  benefited  by  it.  The  political,  social,  and  domestic 
life  of  people  has,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  received  a  more 
healthy  moral  tone.  .  .  .  The  Sabbath  is  usually  strictly  ob- 
served. Nearly  all  the  people  make  a  practice  of  attending 
public  worship  at  least  once  on  the  Lord's  day. 

Rev.  Dr.  A.  T.  Pierson  said : 

The  world  has  been  fully  explored.  There  remains  probably 
no  undiscovered  territory.  The  origin  and  history  of  every 
nation  have  been  traced ;  languages  have  been  reduced  to 
forms,  and  literature  created.  The  present  marvelous  facilities 
for  rapid  travel  and  communication  give  easy  access  to  all 
parts  of  the  globe.  Commerce  of  the  globe,  especially  by  sea, 
is  in  the  hands  of  Protestant  nations  ;  postal  and  telegraph 
unions  extend  into  all  countries.  The  Bible  has  been  translated 
into  more  than  three  hundred  tongues — the  press  is  greatly 
utilized.  Barriers  so  completely  removed — Christian  mission- 
aries under  protection  of  law  in  every  land.  A  native  ministry 
is  developing,  and  the  churches  gathered  out  of  heathendom 
will  soon  be  taking  care  of  themselves. 

Science's  debt  to  missions  is  thus  described  by 
Archdeacon  Farrar: 

Are  not  the  names  of  missionaries  written  in  letters  of  gold 
upon  the  annals  of  mankind  as  the  explorers  of  unknown 
41 


634      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

regions,  the  describers  of  natural  phenomena,  the  annalists  of 
national  customs,  the  philologists  of  vanishing  languages,  the 
ethnographers  of  unvisited  races,  the  discoverers  of  valuable 
medicines,  the  translators  of  immemorial  literatures  ?  Nothing 
was  further  from  the  minds  of  the  tirst  missionaries  than 
the  promotion  of  science,  yet  none  have  contributed  more 
materials  to  its  development.  Did  not  Leibnitz  desire  their 
assistance  for  this  purpose  ?  Did  not  Karl  Ritter,  the  geogra- 
pher, say  that  without  their  materials  his  book  could  not  have 
bet-n  written  ?  Is  it  nothing  that  through  their  labors  in  the 
translation  of  the  Bible  the  German  philologist  in  his  study 
may  have  before  him  the  grammar  and  vocabulary  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty  languages?  Who  created  the  science  of 
anthropology?  The  missionaries.  Who  rendered  possible  the 
deeply  important  science  of  comparative  religion?  The  mis- 
sionaries. Who  discovered  the  great  chain  of  lakes  in  Central 
Africa  on  which  will  turn  its  future  destiny  ?  The  mission- 
aries. Who  have  been  the  chief  explorers  of  Oceanica  and 
America  and  Asia  ?  The  missionaries.  Who  discovered  the 
famous  Nestorian  monument  in  Singar  Fu  ?  A  missionary. 
Who  discovered  the  still  more  famous  Moabite  stone  ?  A 
Church  missionary.  Who  discovered  the  Hittite  inscriptions? 
A  Presbyterian  missionary. 

A  native  Hindu  paper  thus  summarizes  the  work 
of  Carey,  Marshman,  and  Ward  at  Serampore : 

They  created  a  prose  vernacular  literature  for  Bengal ; 
they  established  the  modern  method  of  popular  education  ; 
they  gave  the  first  great  impulse  to  the  native  press ;  they  set 
up  the  first  steam  engine  in  India;  in  ten  years  they  translated 
and  printed  the  Bible,  or  parts  thereof,  in  thirty-one  lan- 
guages. 

P^rom  Lord  Macaulay : 

Whoever  does  anything  to  depreciate  Christianity  is  guilty 
of  high  treason  against  the  civilization  of  mankind. 


Statistical  Exhibits.  635 

Referring  to  tlie  depreciation  of  the  work  of  mis- 
sionaries by  infidel  tourists,  Charles  R.  Darwin 
says: 

The  slanderers  forget — or  rather  they  will  not  consider — 
that  human  sacrifice,  the  power  of  an  idolatrous  priesthood,  a 
systematically  refined  sensuality  which  has  no  parallel  in  the 
world — child  murder — that  all  this  is  put  away  and  abolished, 
and  that  dishonesty  and  intemperance  and  impurity  have  been 
to  a  great  extent  lessened  through  the  introduction  of  Chris- 
tianity. It  is  the  basest  ingrntitude  on  the  part  of  writers  of 
travels  to  forget  this.  Were  it  their  lot  to  stand  in  expectation 
of  suffering  shipwreck  on  some  unknown  coast,  they  would 
direct  a  fervent  prayer  to  heaven  that  the  teaching  of  the 
missionaries  might  have  reached  its  inhabitants. 

These  are  mighty  words  coming  from  Charles 
R.  Darwin. 

From  "  The  Christian  Advocate :  " 

Last  year  Charles  Stewart  Smith,  President  of  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce  of  New  York,  was  traveling  around  the  world. 
The  secretary,  Mr.  George  F.  Wilson,  has  received  a  letter 
from  him  in  which  Mr.  Smith  says  it  is  the  fashion  among 
passengers  by  the  Pacific  steamers,  and  of  a  large  number  of 
travelers,  to  sneer  at  foreign  missionaries.  He  therefore  says 
that  he  determined  to  visit  them.  After  describmg  what  he 
saw,  he  says  :  "  My  personal  observations  led  me  to  the  con- 
viction that  the  results  concerning  the  missions  are  under- 
stated," and  adds  that  he  was  invited  to  the  principal  Hindu 
Club,  and  was  there  introduced  to  a  high-caste  Brahman,  a 
distinguished  member  of  the  board.  He  spoke  faultless 
English,  was  a  very  interesting  man,  and  said  :  "  Hindu  as  I 
am,  I  want  to  bear  my  testimony  to  the  valuable  ser\-ice  the 
American  missionaries  have  rendered  to  our  poor  people  by 
their  schools.     They  have  forced  us  in  self-defense  to  open 


636      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Hindu  schools  for  the  poor."  Those  passengers  who  sneer  at 
American  Missions  in  India,  China,  or  even  in  Egypt,  have 
never  visited  them.  Many  of  them  would  be  far  better 
authority  as  to  scenes,  with  the  descriptions  of  which  for  home 
reading  they  would  not  like  to  have  their  names  connected,  if 
eye  witnesses  or  participants. 

It  has  been  said  that,  under  the  influence  of 
pagan  superstitions,  men  evince  an  inanity  and  a 
torpor,  from  which  no  stimukis  has  proved  power- 
ful enough  to  arouse  them  but  the  new  ideas  and 
principals  imparted  by  Christianity.  If  not  already 
proved,  but  little  time  longer  will  be  needed  to 
demonstrate  the  fact  that  Protestant  missions  are 
the  most  effective  means  ever  brought  to  operate 
upon  the  social,  civil,  commercial,  moral,  or  spirit- 
ual interests  of  mankind.  Commencing  at  a  time 
when  the  larger  pagan  nations  (China,  Japan,  etc.) 
were  inaccessible,  Polynesia  and  Australasia  were 
providentially  opened  as  the  trial-ground  on  which 
the  great  problem  of  foreign  missions  was  to  be 
tested  and  wrought  out.  In  these  dark  moral 
wastes  the  densest  ignorance  has  been  enlightened, 
the  fiercest  cannibalism  confronted,  the  lowest  con- 
ditions of  humanity  elevated,  the  most  abomin- 
able idolatries  overthrown,  and  the  pure  worship 
of  the  Prince  of  Peace  substituted.  Well-organ- 
ized civil  institutions  have  been  established,  a  lit- 
erature has  been  created  and  learned,  new  ideals 
of  life  produced,  and  new  types  of  society  de- 
veloped. 


Statistical  Exhibits.  637 

Many  of  the  results  of  modern  missions  cannot 
be  definitely  expressed.  No  array  of  figures,  nor 
terms,  nor  illustrations,  will  adequately  set  them 
before  us.  Who  can  measure  the  preparatory  work, 
the  learning  of  the  imperfect  languages,  in  some 
cases  almost  creating  them  ;  the  translating  of  the 
15ible  into  such  crude  tongues,  without  words  to 
express  the  higher  forms  of  thought ;  the  develop- 
ment of  a  religious  literature,  sometimes  among 
people  without  any  literature ;  the  removal  of  prej- 
udices seated  in  the  lowest  passions  ;  and  the  es- 
tablishment of  confidence.  Mountains  and  hills 
have  been  made  plains,  valleys  exalted,  chasms 
bridged,  the  far  off  brought  nigh,  and  foundations 
laid.  The  centrifugal  aversions  of  paganism  are 
giving  way  to  the  centripetal  attractions  of  Christi-  ' 
anity ;  the  habitations  of  cruelty  are  becoming 
safe,  peaceful  abodes ;  and  the  dark  vapors  and 
clouds  of  superstition  are  vanishing  before  the 
brightening  light  of  Gospel  day. 

The  translation  and  diffusion  of  the  Holy  Script- 
ures, at  once  one  of  the  factors  and  one  of  the 
achievements  of  this  world-wide  evangelization,  de- 
serve particular  mention. 

Passing  b}',  as  we  have,  the  semi-millennial  anni- 
versary of  the  first  complete  translation  of  the  Bible 
into  the  English  language,  we  joyfully  recognize  that 
grand  consummation  as  one  of  the  great  waymarks 
of  the  Church's  progress. 


638      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Seven  great  events  mark  distinct  epochs  in  the 
history  of  the  Bible :  The  giving  of  the  Law  on 
Mount  Sinai,  B.  C.  1491  ;  the  compilation  of  the 
Hebrew  Bible  by  Ezra,  B.  C.  450 ;  the  Septuagint 
version,  B.  C.  287 ;  the  Vulgate  version,  about 
A.  D.  400;  Wycliffe's  version,  A.  D.  1380;  King 
James'  version,  1611  ;  and  the  newly-revised  En- 
glish version,  completed,  printed,  and  issued  in  our 
day. 

Each  of  these  dates  has  marked  an  era  of  more 
rapid  and  widely  extended  progress  of  God's  king- 
dom. The  Pentateuch,  for  nearly  fifteen  hundred 
years,  was  the  basis  of  the  national  life  and  order 
of  a  people,  who,  though  numerically  small,  acted  a 
leading  part  in  the  earlier  religious  movements  of 
the  world.  The  work  of  Ezra  brought  into  consist- 
ent unity  and  permanence  the  fragmentary  revela- 
tions of  a  long  dispensation,  for  the  benefit  of  after 
ages.  The  Septuagint  invested  the  Hebrew  Script- 
ures  in  a  language  the  most  perfect  and  beautiful 
ever  written  or  spoken,  and  introduced  them  into 
the  widely-extended  realm  of  letters  during  the 
great  centuries  of  ancient  classical,  culture.  The 
Vulgate,  appearing  simultaneously  with  the  con- 
quest of  the  old  world  by  Christianity,  conveyed 
the  sacred  volume  to  the  numerous  rising  nations 
of  northern,  western,  and  southern  Europe,  among 
whom  for  centuries  the  Latin  tongue  was  the  cur- 
rent medium  of  communication.     Wycliffe's  version 


Statistical  Exhibits.  639 

introduced  the  divine  word  into  the  vernacular  of  a 
young  nation  just  coming  into  prominence,  and  des- 
tined to  act  a  leading  part  in  the  most  active  era 
of  progress  the  world  has  ever  seen.  In  King 
James'  version,  completed  near  the  close  of  a 
period  of  extended  Papal  colonization,  and  at  the 
opening  of  the  period  of  Protestant  colonization  in 
the  New  World,  the  Bible  has  become  the  corner- 
stone of  numerous  new  Christian  States  in  both 
hemispheres,  the  impulse  and  purifier  of  our  civil- 
ization, and  the  inspiration  of  the  great  world-wide 
evangelizing  movements  which  are  the  crowning 
glory  of  our  age.  And  may  we  not  confidently  an- 
ticipate for  the  revised  version,  now  recently  com- 
pleted, in  this  age  of  steamships,  railroads,  tele- 
graphs, telephones,  and  electric  light,  a  glorious 
providential  mission  in  connection  with  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  divine  kingdom,  demonstrating 
anew  the  wonderful  possibilities  of  the  word  of 
God ;  that  it  can  live  and  work  with  increasing 
power  in  all  the  languages  of  the  successive  ages ; 
that  it  not  only  satisfies  the  advancing  necessities 
of  the  world,  but  also  leads  the  column  of  progress  ; 
that  each  new  verbal  investiture,  notwithstand- 
ing outward  diversities,  is  both  a  symbol  and  a 
factor  of  an  increasing  spiritual  unity,  bringing 
the  common  heart  of  Christendom  nearer  to  the 
core  of  truth,  a  fresh  illustration  of  the  two  eternal 
facts,    that    God's    kingdom    is    unchanged    amid 


640      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

changes,  and    is    capable    of   perpetual    rejuvenes- 
cence. 

One  hundred  and  thirty  years  ago,  in  a  room  in 
Geneva,  Voltaire  boastingly  said,  "  Before  the  be- 
ginning of  the  nineteenth  century  Christianity  will 
have  disappeared  from  the  earth."  Since  that  time 
the  very  room  where  these  vain  words  were  uttered 
has  been  used  as  a  Bible  Depository,  and  Christian- 
ity has  won  the  greatest,  the  widest,  and  the  most 
glorious  triumphs  of  her  whole  history.  Of  ail  the 
periods  of  religious  history,  the  most  wonderful  is 
that  included  in  the  ninety  years  of  our  times  since 
the  organization  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society  in  1804 — sometimes  called  the  era  of  Bible 
Societies — but,  more  comprehensively,  the  era  of 
evangelizing  agencies.  Numerous  data,  collected 
at  the  opening  of  this  century,  show  that  large  por- 
tions of  professedly  Protestant  countries  were  with- 
out copies  of  the  sacred  Scriptures,  and  that  they 
could  be  attained  only  with  great  difficulty  and 
at  great  cost.  On  the  continent  of  Europe,  in 
Lithuania,  among  32,800  families  not  a  Bible 
could  be  found  ;  in  Holland  one  half  of  the  pop- 
ulation was  destitute  ;  in  Poland  a  Bible  could 
scarcely  be  obtained  at  any  price  ;  in  the  district 
of  Dorpat,  in  a  population  of  106,000,  not  200 
New  Testaments  could  be  found,  and  there  were 
Christian  pastors  who  did  not  possess  the  Bible 
in  the  dialects  in  which  they  preached  ;  in  Iceland, 


Statistical  Exhibits.  641 

in  a  population  of  50,000,  almost  all  of  whom  could 
read,  not  more  than  forty  or  fifty  copies  of  the 
Bible  existed  ,  in  the  United  States  no  Bible  was 
published  until  the  close  of  the  Revolution ;  the 
pagan  world  was  wholly  destitute,  and  in  Papal 
countries  it  did  not  exist  in  the  dialects  of  the 
people. 

There  are  libraries  in  which  are  to  be  found 
copies  of  every  edition  of  the  Bible  ever  printed, 
and  it  is  probable  that  in  1804  there  were  much 
less  than  5,000,000  of  Bibles  in  all  the  world,  a  far 
greater  number,  probably,  than  were  in  the  hands 
of  mankind  during  the  thirty  centuries  from  Moses 
to  Luther.  But  since  1804  over  200,000,000*  copies, 
in  whole  or  in  part,  of  the  word  of  God  have  been 
scattered  abroad  by  the  two  great  Bible  societies, 
more  than  forty  times  as  many  as  existed  in  all  the 
previous  thirty-three  centuries  since  the  law  was 
given  on  Mount  Sinai. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  century  the  Bible  ex- 
isted, in  some  fifty  translations,  in  the  languages 
of  one  fourth  of  the  earth's  population  ;  now  it 
exists  in  the  languages  of  over  four  fifths  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  world — in  319+  languages  and 
dialects,  very  many  of  which  had   no  written  form:}; 

*  See  Bible  Society  Record,  Nov.  15,  1894,  p.  170. 
f  Bible  Society  Record,  Nov.  15,  1894,  p.  178. 
X  Within  seventy  years  sixty  or  seventy  languages  have  been  made 
to  possess  a  literary  history. 


642      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

until  Protestant  missionaries  created  it.  Such  has 
been  the  accelerated  progress  in  our  time  in 
supplying  the  unevangelized  world  with  scriptural 
knowledge. 

Many  of  the  results  of  modern  missions  are  mag- 
nificent. Some  of  the  largest  local  churches  in 
the  world  are  mission  churches,  on  some  of  the 
islands  of  the  Pacific,  not  sixty  years  removed  from 
utter  barbarism,  and  now  sending  out  missionaries 
to  other  Pacific  islands.  On  the  Fiji  Islands, 
whose  inhabitants  less  than  fifty  years  ago  feasted 
on  human  flesh,  nearly  one  hundred  thousand 
hearers  assemble  for  Christian  worship.  What  a 
community  is  this  body  of  Fijians,  99,835  of  whom 
are  worshipers  in  Wesleyan  chapels,  10,205  in 
Roman  Catholic  chapels,  and  the  balance  of  the 
population,  15,367,  not  specified.  The  Wcsleyans 
have  here  1 1  European  missionaries,  70  native 
ministers,  52  catechists,  1,126  teachers,  2,081  local 
preachers,  979  churches  and  334  other  preaching 
places.  In  1820  there  was  not  a  native  Christian 
on  the  Friendly  Islands  ;  now  twenty  thousand  as- 
semble for  Sabbath  worship,  and  nearly  eight  thou- 
sand are  enrolled  as  communicants  of  the  Wesleyan 
Societies.  In  i860,  forty  years  after  the  first  mis- 
sion began  on  Madagascar,  there  were  only  a  few 
hundred  scattered,  persecuted  converts.  Now  the 
queen  and  her  prime  minister,  with  450,000  of  their 
subjects,    are    adherents   of  Christianity.      In   1877 


Statistical  Exhibits.  643 

the  last  vestige  of  slavery  was   abolished   on  that 
island.     There  are  in  Madagascar  38  missionaries  of 
the  London   Missionary  Society,  16  of  the  Friends' 
Mission,    13    of  the   Anglican    Mission,   50  of  the 
Norwegian    Lutheran,    and     53    Roman    Catholic 
priests.     The  London  Missionary  Society  has    750 
native   pastors    and    lOO  evangelists.      Out  of  the 
3,500,000  estimated   population,  450,000  are   Prot- 
estants,   and    50,000   Roman    Catholics.      The    re- 
mainder are  still  pagans.      There  are    1,800   Prot- 
estant schools  and    170,000  children  under  instruc- 
tion.    Much  literature   is   provided   and    circulated 
by    the     Missionary    Societies.        Western     Africa 
numbers    over     32,000     communicants    and     over 
90,000    Christian    hearers.      Over    2,000    miles     of 
coast    have    been    reclaimed  from   the    slave-trade, 
and    churches    and    schools    have  taken    the    place 
of  slave-pens. 

One  hundred  years  ago  Polynesia,*  with  its 
12,000  islands,  was,  for  the  first  time,  clearly  made 

*  Rev.  S.  J.  Whitmee,  at  the  London  Foreign  Mission  Confer- 
ence, in  1878,  (see  volume,  p.  268,)  gave  the  following  statistics  of 
the  Polynesian  Missions  : 

1.  Malay o-Polynesian  area—  Members  of  the  Churches. 

London  Missionary  Society '7i°2S 

Wesleyan  Missionary  Society 'OiS'S 

Hawaiian  Association 8,739 36,079 

2.  Micronesian  area,  (approximate) ii50o 

3.  Melanesian  area — 

Wesleyan  Missionary  Society 26,634 

London  Missionary  Society 3''°5 

Presbyterian  Missionary  Society 783 3°.522 

Total  church  members 68,101 


644      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

known  to  Europeans  by  the  discoveries  of  Captain 
Cook,  Its  population  was  entirely  heathen,  of  the 
lowest  degree,  grossly  and  savagely  heathen,  their 
hideous  vices  sadly  contrasting  with  the  wonderful 
natural  beauty  of  their  island  groups.  Now,  by  far 
the  greater  portion  of  Polynesia  has  become,  in  a 
good  degree,  Christianized.  Heathenism  is  mainly 
confined  to  the  islands  in  the  western  portion,  upon 
which  the  missionary  societies  arc  now  concentrat- 
ing. The  London  Missionary  Society  has  under- 
taken the  work  in  New  Guinea ;  the  Melanesian 
Mission,  in  the  Banks'  and  Solomon  Islands ;  the 
Presbyterians,  in  the  New  Hebrides;  the  Wesley- 
ans,  in  New  Britain  and  New  Ireland ;  and  the 
American  Board,  in  connection  with  the  Hawaiian 
Churches,  are  widening  their  labors  in  Micronesia. 

More  than  60,000  converts  were  gathered  into  the 
Protestant  Mission  Churches  of  the  world  in  1878 
— a  number  nearly  equal  to  the  whole  number  of 
members  of  the  Mission  Churches  fifty-five  years 
ago.  Marvelous  harvests  were  reaped  in  India,  Bur- 
mah,  and  Siam.  Over  18,000  souls,  at  once,  joined 
the  Anglicans  in  Tinnevelly,  subsequently  increased 
by  6,000  more  in  the  same  presidency.  About 
6,000  converts  were  added  to  the  Arcot  Mission  of 
the  Reformed  Dutch  Church.  In  the  American 
Baptist  Mission,  among  the  Telugus,  there  was  a 
similar  immense  ingathering  of  10,537  converts  in 
one  year. 


Statistical  Exhibits.  645 

"  Seventy  years  from  the  first  promulgation  of 
Cliristianity,"  said  a  religious  journal,  discussing  the 
success  of  missions,  "  it  is  probable  that  there  were 
not  more  avowed  Christians  in  the  world  than  there 
are  now  in  India  and  Burmah."  The  nominal 
Christian  population  of  the  world,  at  the  close  of 
the  second  century,  has  been  quite  uniformly  esti- 
mated at  two  millions.  But  the  Christian  hearers 
reported  on  three  fifths  of  the  foreign  Protestant 
missions,  in  1880,  at  the  close  of  ninety  years  since 
the  great  English  foreign  missionary  societies  were 
organized,  was  1,813,596.  Complete  returns  would 
probably  give  more  than  four  millions  at  the  present 
time,  and  the  enrolled  communicants  quite  two 
millions.  And  yet,  in  the  face  of  these  unparalleled 
results  in  the  widely  extended  field  of  the  world, 
and  an  increase  of  9,679,619  communicants  in  the 
Evangelical  Churches  of  the  United  States  during 
the  previous  ninety  years,  a  writer  in  the  "  Catholic 
World"  some  years  ago  had  the  hardihood  to  de- 
clare, "All  historians  agree  that  the  triumphs  of 
Protestantism  closed  with  the  first  fifty  years  of  its 
existence." 

The  eyes  of  India,  China,  and  Japan  are  turning 
more  and  more  to  Christian  lands  as  the  sources 
whence  are  to  be  obtained  the  blessings  of  knowl- 
edge and  culture.  Young  men  from  these  three 
countries,  now  numbered  by  hundreds,  are  enrolled 
as  pupils  in  our  schools  and  colleges,  taking  prizes 


646      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

at  our  universities,  and  fitting  for  the  Christian 
ministry  at  our  theological  seminaries.  Japanese 
princesses,  also,  have  come  to  join  their  dusky 
brothers  in  Christian  halls  of  science,  fulfilling  the 
Scriptures:  "The  Gentiles  shall  come  to  thy  light;" 
"  thy  sons  shall  come  from  far,  and  thy  daughters 
shall  be  nursed  by  thy  side." 


CHAPTER  V. 
THE   ^VORLD-WIDE   VIEW. 

Christian  Populations. 

Christian  Governments. 

Papal  and  Protestant  Governments. 

Papal  and  Protestant  Areas. 

The  English-speaking  Population. 

Civil  Supremacy  of  Protestantisnn. 

The  Ascending  Sun. 


Statistical  Exhibits.  649 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  WORLD-WIDE   VIEW. 

THE  progress  of  Christianity  during  the  past 
one  hundred  years  is  one  of  the  most  pal- 
pable of  all  the  phases  of  the  world's  history.  The 
following  table,*  published  as  a  conjectural,  but 
probable,  estimate  of  the  progressive  increase  of  the 
number  of  Christians  in  the  world,  in  the  succes- 
sive centuries,  intelligently  made  up  from  carefully 
collated  data,  has  been  generally  accepted.  For 
the  period  more  especially  under  consideration — 
the  time  since  the  birth  of  Protestantism — the  fol- 
lowing are  the  figures  : 

I500,f    100,000,000  Christians.     I      1700,      155,000,000  Christians. 
1600,      125,000,000  "  I      1800,      200,000,000         " 

Before   1847  Rev.   Sharon    Turner   said::}:    "In 
this    nineteenth   century  the   real    number   of  the 

*  See  Ferussac,  "Bull.  Univ.  Geog.,"  January,  1827,  page  4. 
f  The  statistics  of  the  earlier  periods  are  as  follows : 


Christians. 

First  century 500,000 

Second      "      2,000,000 

Third       "       5,000,000 

Fourth     "      10,000,000 


CbrittUot. 

Eighth  century 30,000,000 

Ninth  "      40,000,000 

Tenth  "       50,000,000 

Eleventh     "      70,000,000 


Fifth         "      15,000,000     Twelfth        " 80,000,000 

Sixth        "       20,000,000      Thirteenth"       75,000,00c 

Seventh   "      25,000,000!  Fourteenth"      80,000,000 

See  Mr,  Turner's  "  History  of  the  Anglo-Saxons." 

X  "  History  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,"  sixth  edit.,  vol.  Hi,  p. 484,  note 

4-2 


630      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Christian  population  of  the  world  is  nearer  to  three 
hundred  millions,  and  is  visibly  much  increasing 
from  the  missionary  spirit  and  exertions  which  are 
now  distinguishing  the  chief  Protestant  nations  of 
the  world." 

The  latest  estimates  are  as  follows: 

Yeak.  Christians.  Authorities. 

1830 228,000,000  Malte  Biun. 

1840 300,000,000  Rev.  Sharon  Turner,  D.D. 

1850 342,000,000  Rev.  Robert  Baird,  D.D. 

1875 394,000,000  Prof.  Schem,  LL.D. 

1880 410,900,000  Prof.  Schem,  LL.D. 

1890 492,865,000  Prof.  Keane. 

1894 500,000,000 

The  above  are  probably  the  most  reliable  repre- 
sentations of  the  later  progress  of  Christianity  in 
the  whole  world,  showing  its  wonderful  growth  in 
later  years,  far  exceeding  its  previous  progress.  In 
fifteen  hundred  years  it  gained  one  hundred  mill- 
ions ;  then,  in  three  hundred  years,  it  gained  one 
hundred  millions  more ;  then,  in  eighty  years,  it 
gained  two  hundred  and  ten  millions  more,  more 
than  as  much  as  in  the  eighteen  centuries  previous 
to  1800.  In  the  last  twenty  years,  one  hundred  and 
six  millions.  During  the  nearly  ten  centuries  of 
almost  exclusive  Papal  dominion,  Christianity 
gained  only  about  eighty-five  millions.  Since  the 
birth. of  Protestantism,  a  period  about  one  third  as 
long,  it  has  gained  nearly  six  times  as  much.  And 
since  the  great  religious  quickening  of  Protestantism 


A.  D.  A.  D. 

in     1000  (■  50,000.000 


500 


1500 


1800 


1890  L 


Il.l.lSl  K  Al  INC;     IMF.    PkoGKEsS    UK    ChKISTI- 
AMIV    IN    ALL    THK    WoRLD, 

A.  I).  i-iSgo. 


492.865,000. 


1000  WM  50,000,000. 


Statistical  Exhibits.  651 

under  the  Wcslcys  and  Whitefield,  in  the  middle  of 
the  last  century,  it  has  gained  three  hundred  and 
forty-five  millions. 

I. — Population  of  the  Grand  Divisions  of 
THE  World. 

Tablk  ok  Pkok.  a.  J.  ScHEM,*  LL.D.,  in  1875. 

Europe 302,973,000 

Asia 798,907,000 

Africa 206,007,000 

America 84,392,000 

Australia 4,563,000 

Total 1,396,842,000 

TaULE    of    PkOF.    a.    H.    IvEANEf    FOR    18934 

Europe 360,000,000 

Asia  and  Eastern  Archipelago 832,000,000 

Africa 171,000,000 

Australia  and  Pacific  Islands 6,000,000 

North   America   with   Central     America   and 

West  Indies 93,000,000 

South  America 38,000,000 

Total 1,500,000,000 

II. — Christian  Populations  of  the  World. 

Prof.  Keane  says  :  "  The  table  subjoined  requires 
a  little  explanation.  The  Eastern  Archipelago  is 
now  brought    into  Asia,  and  New  Guinea  left  to 

*  See  "  Metliodist  Quarterly  Review,"  January,  1S76. 

f  See  "  Church  Missionary  Intelligencer,"  London,  October,  1894. 

:j:  Prof.  Keane  says:  "Allowing  for  a  considerable  increase  since 
the  last  general  censuses  of  1890-91,  the  population  of  the  world 
in  1893  probal)ly  falls  little  sliort  of,  and  may  even  somewhat  exceed, 
1,500,090,000." 


652      Problem  of  Religious  Progress 

Australia.  Over  half  (7,684,906)  of  the  'other 
Christians '  not  specified  in  Europe  are  French, 
who  at  the  last  census  *  declined  to  make  any 
declaration  of  religious  belief.'  Most  of  the  others 
are  Russian  sectaries  too  numerous  to  specify.  The 
Orthodox  Greeks  and  the  Roman  Catholics  have 
greatly  increased  in  recent  years,  as  shown  by  the 
official  populations  of  Russia  (January,  1893,  124,- 
000,000,  of  whom  at  least  90,000,000  are  nominally 
orthodox);  of  the  Hispans  and  Lusitans — American 
States  (Brazil,  now,  16,000,000);  of  Austro-Hungary, 
Italy,  etc.  There  are  6,000,000  Roman  Catholics  in 
the  Philippine  Islands,  which  are  generally  over- 
looked in  estimating.  The  figures  for  the  Jews, 
although  differing  considerably  from  those  usually 
given,  are  prepared  from  trustworthy  sources.  The 
large  number  of  Protestants  in  America  is  due  to 
the  great  increase  of  the  population  of  the  United 
States.  The  160,000  Buddhists  in  Europe  are  the 
Torgot  branch  of  the  Kalmucks,  who  migrated  to 
the  lower  Volga  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  of 
whom  that  number  still  remain,  the  great  body  of 
the  nation  having  returned  to  Zungaria  in  1771. 
The  20,000  pagans  in  Europe  are  the  Samoyeds 
and  a  few  Votyaks  (Volga  Finns)." 

Prof.  Keane  is  a  high  authority,  in  England,  in 
ethnological  studies.  Though  absolute  accuracy  can- 
not be  predicated  of  such  statistics,  yet  they. are  in- 
teresting and  approximate  exhibits — the  best  of  any. 


Stattsticat,  Exiitp.its. 


653 


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654      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

III. — Relative    Number   of   Christians   who 
ARE  Roman  Catholics,  Protestants,  etc. 

1875.  1890. 

Roman  Catholics 201,800,000  223,550,000 

Protestants ...  111,200,000  149,955,000 

Eastern  Church 81,000,000  98,030,000 

Not  specified 6,000,000  21,330,000 

Total 400,000,000  492,865,000 

Percentage   of  the  Whole. 

1875.  1890. 

Roman  Catholics 50.4  45.5 

Protestants 27.3  30.6 

Greek  Church 20.2  18.2 

Actual  Increase.  Relative  Increase. 

Roman  Catholics 21,750,000  10.9 

Protestants 38,755,000  34.0 

Eastern  Church 17,030,000  21 .0 

IV. — Populations  Under  Christian  Gov- 
ernments. 

But  the  portion  of  the  earth's  population  under 
Christian  governments  has  increased  even  more  rap- 
idly than  the  number  of  Christians,  as  will  be  seen 
by  the  following  well-established  figures  : , 

Under  Christian  Governments. 

Year.  Population.  Authorities. 

1500 100,000,000  Rev.  Sharon  Turner,  D.D. 

1700 155,000,000  Rev.  Sharon  Turner,  D.D. 

1830 387,788,000  Adrian  Balbi. 

1875 685,459,411  Prof.  Schem,  LL.D. 

1890 890,901,277  Prof.  Keane. 

These  figures  show  the  wonderful  growth  of  the 
Christian  nations,  the  enlargement  of  their  national 
domains,  and  the  increase  of  their  populations. 
They  demonstrate  the  rapid  extension  of  Christian 


1500 


100.000,000 

Pdini.AiioNs  Unokk 
Chkisiian  CiOV- 

KKNMKNTS. 

Rnnian  Catholic. 

I       ~~\  (,,rc.-k  Cliurch. 


1700 


1830 


1890 


/ISSmilns. 


Total.  890,901.277. 


Statistical  Exhibits. 


655 


influences  and  the  Christian  subjugation  of  the  world. 
Nearly  nine  times  the  number  of  people  arc  under 
the  control  of  Christian  nations  as  at  the  opening  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  when  Protestantism  arose. 
The  increase  since  Weslcyanism  arose  in  England 
has  been  equal  to  half  of  the  population  of  the  globe. 
But  has  this  wonderful  increase  been  in  the  Greek, 
or  the  Roman  Catholic,  or  the  Protestant  form  of 
Christianity?  Let  us  examine  this  question  by 
looking  at  a  succession  of  tables.  The  following 
table,  based  upon  statistics  furnished  in  Seaman's 
"  Progress  of  Nations,"  will  show  the  relative 
strength  of  these  forms  of  Christianity  in  the  world 
in  the  year  1700: 


Countries. 

Italy  and  islands 

Spain  and  Portugal 

France  and  colonies 

Great  Britain  and  colonies. 

Ireland 

Holland  and  colonies 

Belgium 

Prussia 

Denmark  and  colonies. . . . 

Sweden  and  Norway 

Germany. 


Pop'n  under 
Roman  Catholic 
Governments. 

.    l8,CXX),000 

,    13,500,000 

.    20,700,000 


Pop'n  under       Pop'n  under 
Greek  Church       Protestant 
Governments.    Governments. 


2,400,000 
1,400,000 


Switzerland 

Austria  and  Hungary 

Poland 

Span,  and  Portuguese  Am. 

Russia 

Greece  and  isles 

Africa,  etc 


18,000,000 

3,000,000 

13,000,000 


9,000,000 
i,8oo,{)00 


7,500,000 
1,300,000 
2,400,000 
8,500,000 
1,500,000 


17,000,000 
12,000,000 
4,000,000 


Total , 90,000,000 


33,000,000       32,000,000 


656      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


In  the  year  1500  about  80,000,000  of  people  were 
under  Roman  Catholic  governments,  and  not  far 
from  20,000,000  under  the  Greek  Church  govern- 
ments. The  following  estimates  by  Adrian  Balbi 
for  1830,  and  by  Prof.  Schem  for  1875,  '^^'iH  serve 
our  purpose : 


Yeak. 

Pop'n  under 
Roman  Catholic 

(lovernments. 

1500.  . 

80,000,000 

1700.  . 
1830.. 

1875.. 
1890    . 

90,000,000 
134,164,000 

180,787,905 
242,822,264 

Pop'n  under 

Greek  Church 

Governments. 

20,000,000 

33,000,000 

60,000,000 

96,101,894 

127,975,823 


Pop'n  under 

Protestant 

Governments. 


32,000,000 
193,624,000 
408,569,612 
520,103,190 


Total. 

100,000,000 
155,000,000 

387,788,000 
685,459,411 
890,901,277 


Latest  Table  of  Populations  Under  Chris- 
tian Governments.* 

The  civil  ascendency  and  control  of  the  world  is  a 
question  of  great  interest.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact 
that  the  dominant  civil  influence  of  the  world  is 
rapidly  becoming  Christian  in  some  form — Roman 
Catholic,  or  Eastern  Church,  or  Protestant — but 
more  rapidly  Protestant  than  either  of  the  others. 


States,  including 

Area  Square  Miles. 

Population. 

Colonies  and  Departments. 

1875. 

1890. 

1875- 

1890. 

Under  Protestant  Governments 
"       Rom.  Cath.           " 
"      East.  Church        " 

14.337,187 

Q, 304, 605 
8,778,123 

15,618.815 
11,860,150 
8,756,310 

408,569,612 
180,787,905 
96,101,894 

520,103,190 
242,822,264 
127,975,823 

Total  under  Christian  Gov'ts. . 

32,419,915 

36,235,275 

635,4S9>4" 

890,901,277 

Per  Cent.     To.  Area. 

Percent.  To.  Popula'n. 

Under  Protestant  Governments 
"       Rom.  Cath. 
"       East.  Church       " 

27-5 
17.8 
16.8 

29.9 
22.7 
16.8 

29.2 
12.9 

6.8 

35-7 
16.2 

8.5 

Total  under  Christian  Gov'ts. . . 

62.4 

69.6 

40.2 

59-4 

*  See  full  tables  in  the  Appendix. 


Statisticai,  Exhibits. 


657 


v.— Colonies,  Dependencies,  and  Possessions 
OF  Christian  Governments. 

An  intcrestintj  feature  is  the  reaching  out  of  Chris- 
tian nations  among  pagan  nations  in  the  estabhsh- 
ing  of  Colonies  and  Dependencies,  thus  extending 
the  sway  of  Christian  governments. 
British  Empire. 

Square  Miles.  Population. 

Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  121,115  38,500,000 

Indian  Possessions 1,600,000  288,350,000 

Otlier  Eastern  Possessions.  104,441  4,169,000 

Australasia,  etc 3, 403.405  ■  4,2oo,ooo 

America  (North) 3. 525,000  5,200.000 

(South) 76,000  285,000 

Africa* 295,000  4,000,000 

West  Indies 20,343  1,136.000 

European  Possessions ...  .  124  185,500 

Total 9,145,428  346,025,500 

German  Empire. 


Localities. 

Date  of 
Acquisition. 

Estimated 
Area. 

Estimated 
Population. 

1884 
1884 
18S4-9O 
1885-90 

1884-90 

208,738 

49,428,470 

In  Africa. 

16,000 
130,000 
350,000 
400,000 

896,000 

500,000 

2,600,000 

German  South  West 

Africa 

200,000 
2,900,000 

Total  in  Africa. .  . 

6,200,000 

*  Whitaker's  "London  Almanac"  for  1894  says:  "If  to  these 
figures  we  add  the  recent '  Annexations,'  '  Influences,'  or  perliaps  the 
truer  and  more  expressive  word  '  grabbings,'  in  Africa,  the  area  will 
be  extended  to  11,190,513  square  miles,  and  population  yet  unnum- 
bered." 


658      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

German  Empire,  (Continued.) 


Localities. 

Date  of 
Acquisition. 

Estimated            Estimated 
Area.               Population. 

In  the  Pacific. 

Kaiser  Wilhelm's  Land..  .  . 

Bismarck  Archipelago 

Solomon  Islands 

Marshall  Islands    

1885-86 
1885 
1886 
1886 

72,000 

19,000 

9,000 

150 

110,000 

I  go,  000 

90,000 

16,000 

Total  Pacific  Possessions. 

100,150 

406,000 

996,150 

6,606,000 

1,204,888 

56,034,470 

Russia. 

Area. 

In  Europe 2,095,504 

In  Asia 6,564,778 


Total  Russia.. 


8,660,282 


Population. 
99,531,929 
17,694,981 

117,226,910 


A  very  large  part  of  this  extension  has  occurred 
between  1886  and  1892. 


France. 


In  Europe. 


In  Asia 

In  Africa..  .  . 
In  America.. 
In  Oceanica. 


Date  of 
Acquisition. 


Area. 


204,092 


Total  Colonies  with  Algeria. 
Total  France 


1679-1893 
1637-1890 
1626-1635 

1841-1888 


137.903 

876,734 

48,040 

9.165 


Population. 


38,343,192 


17,159,692 

14,564,654 

377.203 

92.995 


1,071,842    32,194,544 


1,275.934  I  70,537.736 


Statistical  Exhibits. 


659 


Besides  the  above,  Fiance  claims  a  sphere  of 
influence  over  Tunis,  Madagascar,  Annam,  Cam- 
bodia, Comoro  Isles,  and  the  Sahara  region,  mostly 
since   1880,  comprising   1,412,940  square  miles,  and 

14,547,000  people. 

Portugal. 


Localities. 

Date  of 
Acquisition. 

Area  in 
Square  Miles. 

Population. 

^d.O^S 

4,708,178 

1878-1885 
1878-1887 

In  Africa  and  isles  . . . 
In  Asia  and  isles  .... 

735.304 
7,900 

4,431,970 
939,320 

Total  Colonies 



743,204 

5,371,200 

Total  Portugal 

777.242 

9.779.378 

Spain. 


Localities. 

Date  of 

Acquisition. 

Area  in 
Square  Miles. 

Population. 

In  Europe   

'1885 

197,670 

i7.i;6i;.6';2 

In  West  Indies 

In  Asia  and  isles  .... 
In  Africa 

45,205 
116,256 

243.877 

2.438,395 

7,121,172 

136,000 

Total  Colonies 

405,338                9.695,567 

Total  Portugal 

603,008             27,261,199 

Italy. 


Localities. 

Area  in 
Square  Miles. 

Population. 

In  Europe 

110,623 

30,535.848 

Possessions. 

Massowali,  Keren,  and  Asmara 

Dahlak  Archipelago 

3,700 
420 
580 

250,000 
2,000 
6,800 

Assab  Territory 

66o      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


Italy,  (Continued.) 


Localities. 


Area  in 
Square  Miles. 


Population. 


Protectorate. 

Hahab,  Bogos  Beni-Amer,  etc 

Afar,  or  Danakil,  and  Suit,  of  Aussa. 

.Somali  and  Gallaland,.  ...    

Kinsjdom  of  Abyssinia 

18,000 

34,000 

300,000 

190,000 

200,000 

200,000 

600,000 

5,000,000 

Total  Possessions  and  Protectorate 

546,100 

6,258,800 

Total  Italy 

656,723 

36,794,648 

Total  Colonies,  Possessions,  Dependencies,  and  Pro- 


tectorates. 


German  Empire. 

Russia 

France 

Portugal ....... 

Spain 

Italy 


Area. 

Population. 

9,024,213 

307.525,500 

996,150 

6,606,000 

6,564,778 

17,694,981 

1,071,843 

32,194,544 

743.204 

5.371.200 

405.338 

9.6Q5.567 

546,100 

6,258,800 

19,351,626 

385,306,592 

The  above  shows  over  one  third  of  the  area,  and 
more  than  one  fourth  of  the  people  of  the  world, 
now  under  the  dominion  of  Christian  governments, 
were,  only  a  little  time  ago,  under  pagan  or  Moham- 
medan rule. 

One  hundred  and  ninety  years  ago  only  155,000,000 
of  the  earth's  population  were  under  Christian  gov- 
ernments. Then  the  Grand  Seignior,  the  Sophi, 
and  the  Great  Mogul  were  the  most  potent  arbiters 
of  the  destinies  of  the  race.  Nearly  all  Asia  and 
Africa  were  under  pagan  and  Mohammedan  sway. 


Statistical  Exhibits.  66 i 

The  mighty  worlds  of  Austrahisia,  Polynesia,  and 
the  Indian  Archipelago  lay  in  the  undisturbed 
slumbers  of  savagery  and  superstition.  Scarcely 
four  hundred  thousand  Protestant  colonists  occu- 
pied both  American  continents ;  all  the  remainder 
was  pagan  or  Catholic.  All  the  religious  missions 
of  the  world,  excepting  a  few  amofig  the  aborigines 
in  the  American  colonics,  were  Papal,  and  the  only 
religion  not  disseminating  itself  and  gaining  ground 
was  the  Protestant.  Great  Britain  and  her  colonies 
did  not  number  ten  millions  of  people.  Now  she 
comprises  a  population  of  almost  three  hundred 
and  fifty  millions*  under  her  civil  sway. 

The  population  under  Roman  Catholic  govern- 
ments in  the  year  1700,  as  we  have  seen,  was 
90,cxx),ooo.  This  has  increased  to  242,822,264  in 
1890,  two  and  a  half  fold.  The  population  under  the 
Greek  Church  governments  in  1700  was  33,000,000. 
This  increased  to  127,975,823,  quadrupling.  The 
population  under  Protestant  governments  in  1700 
was  32,000,000.  This  increased  to  520,103,190  in 
1890,  a  more  than  sixteen  fold  increase.  While 
Romanism  brought  152,822,264  more  people  under 
her  sway.  Protestantism  extended  her  dominion  over 
488,103,190  more  people — an  actual  gain  more  than 

*  According  to  the  census  for  1S91  the  inhal)itants  of  India  were 
288,350,000,  almost  the  whole  of  them  wore  directly  governed  by 
British  rulers,  and  a  small  number  by  native  governments  dependent 
upon  the  British. 


662      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

three  times  as  great  as  that  of  Romanism  in  the  same 
period.  In  these  calculations  Italy,  P" ranee,  and  Mex- 
ico, rapidly  passing  out  from  under  the  civil  control 
of  the  Papacy,  are  reckoned  with  Romanism.  In 
twenty  years  more  they  will  probably  be  transferred 
to  the  other  side,  and  much  of  South  America  also. 
Transferring  tliem  to  the  class  of  Protestant  States 
and  we  will  have  the  following  exhibit : 

Area.  Population. 

Protestant  States *     17,052,242  600,624,950 

Roman  Cailiolic  States 10,426,723  160,300,504 

Gieek  Church  States 8,778,123  127,975,823 

This  calculation  is  made  on  the  supposition  that 
the  population  remains  stationary  and  is  only  trans- 
posed, and  colonial  populations  are  left  out  entirely. 

The  Roman  Catholic  and  the  Protestant  popula- 
tions of  the  world,  which  were  not  long  ago  sup- 
posed to  be  nearly  equal,  the  transitions  from  the 
one  to  the  other  nearly  balancing,  have  relatively 
changed  very  greatly  during  the  last  thirty  years, 
the  preponderance  being  now  very  largely  in  favor 
of  Protestant  nations.  The  losses  and  gains  of  Ro- 
manism and  Protestantism  are  now  far  from  balanc- 
ing each  other,  the  preponderance  of  the  gains  being 
immensely  in  favor  of  Protestantism.  The  signs  of 
the  times  clearly  indicate  that  the  future  will  bring 
still  greater  relative  gains  to  Protestantism.  In 
Spain,  Italy,  France,  Mexico,  ChiH,  and  in  almost 
every  Catholic  country  of  the  globe.  Protestantism 
is    gaining    more    rapidly    and    substantially   than 


Statistical  Exhibits.  663 

Romanism  is  gaining  in  any  country  wholly  or  pre- 
dominantly Protestant.  Under  the  spread  of  toler- 
ation, other  papal  lands  are  opening  to  the  introduc- 
tion of  Protestantism,  and  Rome  is  losing  her  exclu- 
sive hold  upon  other  long-occupied  seats  of  power. 

While  Rome  is  thus  losing  to  a  great  extent  the 
control  of  the  great  nations  hitherto  nominally  con- 
nected with  her,  it  must  be  admitted  that  she  is 
making  some  gains  in  the  aristocracy  of  some  Prot- 
estant countries.  The  number  of  Roman  Catholic 
peers  in  Great  Britain,  in  one  hundred  years,  in- 
creased from  nine  to  more  than  thirty.  In  Germany 
the  facts  are  similar.  The  Marquis  of  Bute  and  the 
Count  of  Schonburg  are  examples.  The  explana- 
tion of  this  fact  is  not  difficult.  The  aristocracy  of 
those  countries  is  no  less  opposed  to  the  liberalizing 
tendencies  of  modern  civilization  than  Rome,  and  is 
thus  drawn  into  natural  alliance  with  Rome.  She 
may  still  continue  to  make  such  gains,  and  increase 
her  wealth ;  but  among  the  masses  of  the  people 
the  effect  can  only  be  favorable  to  Protestantism. 
The  opposition  to  the  principles  of  progress  and 
liberty  is  more  and  more  centering  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  ;  and  the  plainer  this  becomes  the 
sooner  will  society  emancipate  itself  from  her  influ- 
ence, for  the  irreversible  drift  of  the  world  is  in  the 
direction  of  popular  freedom. 

Looking  at  the  territorial  area  of  the  earth,  we 
notice  similar  progress.     The  latest  computations 


664       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

fix  the  total  area  at  52,062,470  square  miles,  of 
which  Christian  nations  have  under  their  civil  con- 
trol 32,419,915  square  miles;  and  the  pagan  and 
Mohammedan,  19,624,555 — three  fifths  Christian  and 
two  fifths  pagan  and  Mohammedan.  Dividing  the 
Christian  nations,  we  find  under  the  civil  dominion 
of  Protestant  governments,  14,337,187  square  miles ; 
under  Roman  Catholic,  9,304,605  square  miles ;  and 
under  Greek  Church  governments,  8,778,123  square 
miles. 

"  The  acquisition  of  foreign  territory  by  Great 
Britain  is  without  a  parallel  in  the  history  of  the 
human  family.  She  bears  rule  over  one  third  of  the 
surface  of  the  globe,  and  one  fourth  of  its  popula- 
tion. Her  possessions  abroad  are  in  area  sixty 
times  larger  than  the  parent  State.  She  owns  three 
millions  and  a  half  of  square  miles  in  America,  one 
million  each  in  Africa  and  Asia,  and  two  and  a  half 
millions  in  Australia.  These  enormous  acquisitions 
have  been  gained  chiefly  within  the  last  hundred 
years.  There  are  thirty-eight  separate  colonies,  or 
groups  of  colonies,  varying  in  area  from  Gibraltar 
with  its  two  miles,  to  Canada,  with  three  million 
and  a  half.  Their  population  aggregates  eleven 
millions,  and  steadily  continues  to  increase."  * 

Great  changes  are  also  taking  place  in  the  pre- 
vailing language  of  the  world,  the  English  coming 
more  than  ever  to  be  the  means  of  intercommuni- 
♦  "  The  Ninteenth  Century,"  p.  45. 


Statistical  Exhibits.  665 

cation  among  the  great  nations.  Baron  Kolb,  the 
German  statistician,  after  extensive  research,  has 
given  the  following  statement  of  the  prevalence  of 
leading  languages.  The  German  is  spoken  by  fifty 
to  sixty  millions  of  people ;  the  French  and  Span- 
ish, by  forty  millions  each ;  the  Russian,  by  fifty- 
five  millions ;  and  the  English,  by  eighty  millions. 
"Whitaker's  Almanac"  for  1881  (p.  157)  P^ts  the 
latter  at  eighty-one  millions.  The  last  authority 
has  materially  increased  his  estimate,  such  are  the 
wondrous  growths.  The  following  are  Whitaker's 
estimates  for  two  periods : 

1881.  1891. 

Episcopalians 18,000,000  28,750,000 

Methodists 14,250,000  18,500,000 

Presbyterians 10,250.000  12,000,000 

Baptists 8,000,000  9,200,000 

Congregationalists 6,000,000  6,100,000 

Unitarians 1,000,000  2,500,000 

Lutheran.  German,  or  Dutch 2,500,000 

Minor  sects 1,500,000  5,000,000 

Total  Protestants 59,000,000  84,550,000 

Roman  Catholics 13,500,000  15,300,000 

Of  no  particular  religion 8,500,000  21,000,000 

Total  English-speaking  people.     81,000,000  120,850,000 

Whitaker  adds : 

English  bids  fair  to  become  the  universal  language ;  already 
it  is  more  widely  spread  and  more  freely  spoken  than  any  other 
tongue.  In  Europe  it  is  regarded  as  the  language  of  polite 
society.  On  the  vast  Australian  and  North  American  conti- 
nents it  is  the  one  speech  ;  and  in  the  East  fully  18,000,000  of 
43 


666      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

Hindus,  Mohammedans,  Buddhists,  and  others  read  and  speak 
English.  In  point  of  numbers  at  the  present  lime  it  is  exceeded 
by  the  Chinese  alone. 

In  the  year  1800  the  EngHsh-speaking  popula- 
tion of  the  globe  did  not  exceed  twenty-four  mill- 
ions, of  which  five  millions  and  a  half  were  Roman 
Catholics ;  four  millions  and  a  half  were  of  no  par- 
ticular religion  ;  and  fourteen  millions  were  Prot- 
estants. According  to  this  analysis  the  English- 
speaking  population  has  increased  four  hundred 
per  cent. ;  the  Roman  Catholic  population  among 
English-speaking  people  two  hundred  per  cent. ; 
and  the  Protestant  English-speaking  population 
five  hundred  per  cent. 

The  Bible,  in  the  year  1800  existing  in  the  lan- 
guages of  only  one  fifth  of  the  earth's  population, 
has  now  been  translated  into  the  languages  of  nine 
tenths  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  world. 

A  writer  makes  this  statement :  "  It  is  a  curi- 
ous fact  that  while  Queen  Victoria  speaks  German 
in  her  home  circle,  the  present  German  Empress 
disregards  it  in  hers,  and  uses  English  as  much  as 
possible.  English  is  the  fireside  tongue  of  the 
Greek,  Danish,  and  Russian  royal  families." 

In  the  Middle  Ages  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
exerted  the  controlling  influence  in  civil  legislation 
and  administration  all  over  Europe.  It  claimed  the 
sole  right  of  dictating  legislation,  exempted  its 
priests  and  monks  from  civil  jurisdiction,  and  ac- 


Statistical  Exhibits.  66^ 

cumulated  within  its  hands  a  very  large  portion  of 
the  wealth  of  the  nations. 

The  Reformation  was  a  movement  in  the  direc- 
tion of  freedom.  It  sought  to  break  this  exclusive 
control  of  the  Church  over  the  State,  and  to  make 
all  citizens  equal  before  the  law.  Immense  ad- 
vances have  every- where  been  made  toward  the 
realization  of  this  reform.  "Although  the  Catholic 
Church  has  still  a  larger  membership  than  all  the 
Reformed  Churches  combined,  the  power  and  com- 
manding influence  upon  the  destinies  of  mankind 
are  more  and  more  passing  into  the  hands  of  States 
and  governments  which  are  separated  from  Rome. 
In  the  New  World,  the  ascendency  of  the  United 
States  and  British  America,  in  both  of  which  Prot- 
estantism prevails,  over  the  States  of  Spanish  and 
Portuguese  America,  is  not  disputed  even  by  Cath- 
olics. In  Europe,  England  has  become  the  great- 
est world  power,  and,  in  its  wide  dominions,  new 
great  Protestant  countries  are  springing  into  exist- 
ence, especially  in  Australia  and  South  Africa.  In 
Germany,  the  supreme  power  has  passed  from  the 
declining  Catholic  house  of  Hapsburg  to  the  Prot- 
estant house  of  Hohenzollern,  and  the  new  Prot- 
estant German  Empire  marks  an  addition  of  the 
greatest  importance  to  the  aggregate  power  of  the 
Protestant  world.  The  combined  influence  of  the 
three  great  Teutonic  peoples,  the  United  States, 
Great  Britain,  and  Germany,  continues  to  be  cast 


668      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

in  a  steadily  increasing  ratio,  for  the  defense  of  that 
freedom  from  the  dictation  of  Rome  which  was 
first  won  by  the  Reformation.  That  freedom  is 
now  not  only  fully  secured  against  any  possible 
combination  of  Catholic  States,  but  the  Parliaments 
of  most  of  the  latter,  as  France,  Austria,  Italy, 
Portugal,  are  as  eager  in  the  defense  of  this  princi- 
ple as  the  Protestant  States.  Thus  it  may  be  said 
that,  after  an  existence  of  about  three  hundred  and 
fifty  years,  the  Reformation  has  totally  annihilated 
the  influence  of  Rome  upon  the  laws  and  the  govern- 
ment of  the  civilized  worlds  * 

"  Once  the  slightest  whispers  of  the  Roman  pon- 
tiff upon  political  affairs  caused  every  throne  of 
Europe  to  nod  ;"  but  now  his  utterances  are  of 
"  little  more  account  than  the  ghosts  of  Tarn  O'Shan- 
ter."  How  greatly  has  the  area  of  liberty  extend- 
ed since  the  days  of  Louis  XV.  and  George  II. 
Thirty  years  ago  an  able  writer  said,  "  We  do  not 
despair  of  yet  hearing  a  Protestant  sermon  within 
the  gates  of  the  Eternal  City,"  It  is  now  more 
than  an  accomplished  fact,  for  Protestant  Churches, 
Sunday-schools,  and  Bibles  are  penetrating  all  Italy, 
and  are  established  under  the  very  shadow  of  St. 
Peter's.  Protestantism  has  steadily  gained  power, 
and  widely  extended  the  blessings  of  a  higher  civ- 
ilization. The  Anglo-Saxon  race,  now  in  the 
ascendant,  that  has  stretched  its  power  over  Amer- 
•  M'Clintock  &  Strong's  "  Cyclopaedia,"  art.,  Reformation. 


Statistical  Exhibits.  669 

ica,  India,  and  Australia,  has  "  a  history  and  a 
temperament  that  will  never  allow  it  to  become  the 
craven  minion  of  Rome." 

How  marvelous  the  changes  that  have  taken 
place  in  China  within  thirty  years.  This  exclusive, 
circumvallated  people  have  admitted  innovation 
after  innovation,  and  are  accepting  the  Christian 
civilization,  as  a  thing  no  longer  to  be  resisted. 
Japan  is  putting  on  the  new  civilization  as  a  gar- 
ment, effecting  changes  in  her  political  constitu- 
tion and  social  habits,  the  like  of  which  no  other 
State  ever  accomplished  in  a  century. 

Very  early  one  morning  several  hundred  eager 
tourists,  in  scanty  apparel,  stood  shivering  on  one 
of  the  Alpine  summits,  waiting  the  rising  of  the 
sun.  So  long  was  his  approach  delayed,  that  it' 
seemed  as  though  somewhere  in  the  far  East  un- 
expected events  had  detained  him.  Soon  deep 
shadows  began  to  lift  and  retire,  and  purple  streaks 
gleamed  athwart  the  eastern  horizon.  Clearer  and 
louder  notes  from  an  Alpine  horn  roused  the  weary 
waiters  to  the  tiptoe  of  expectation  ;  and  on  the 
cloudless  blue  there  soon  formed  a  band  of  gold, 
swiftly  growing  in  brilliancy,  until  the  full-orbed  sun 
blazed,  and  blinded  all  eyes  with  its  brightness.* 

Long  ago  the  purple  streaks  and  dispersing 
shadows  of  the  world's  great  day-dawn  and  the 
fillet  of  its  earliest  rays  appeared.     Christianity  is 

*Rev.  J,    L.  Withrow,  D.D. 


6^0      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

now  far  beyond  its  dawn.  We  see  something  more 
than  the  purple  tints  of  Christ's  kingly  presence 
in  the  affairs  of  men.  Though  dark  shadows, 
hideous  specters  and  poisonous  malaria  still  lin- 
ger in  deep  vales,  yet  we  behold  his  rising  glory, 
diffusing  light  and  warmth,  purifying  and  sweet- 
ening the  world.  Higher  and  higher  is  Christ's 
scepter  lifted.  Willing  nations,  rejoicing  in  the 
day  of  his  power, 

"  To  Him  all  majesty  ascribe, 
And  crown  him  Lord  of  all." 

In  the  last  moments  of  the  Convention  that 
framed  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  while 
the  members  were  affixing  their  signatures  to  the 
document,  Benjamin  Franklin  arose  in  his  seat,  and 
pointing  to  a  painting  of  the  rising  sun  on  the  wall 
behind  the  President,  said :  "  Painters,  in  their 
art,  have  found  it  difficult  to  distinguish  between 
a  rising  and  a  setting  sun.  I  have  often,  in  the 
course  of  the  session  of  this  convention,  in  the  vi- 
cissitudes of  hope  and  fear  as  to  its  issue,  looked 
at  that  picture,  without  being  able  to  tell  whether 
it  was  rising  or  setting.  But  now,  at  length,  I  have 
the  happiness  to  know  that  it  is  a  rising  and  not  a 
setting  sun." 

There  have  been  periods,  since  the  conquest  of 
the  old  Roman  world  by  Christianity,  when  some 
friends  have  entertained  grave  doubts  whether  it 
would  not  soon  go  down  in  darkness  and  wholly 


Statistical  Exhibits.  671 

disappear.      Many   times   have    its   enemies  confi- 
dently predicted  such  disaster. 

But,  at  the  present  time,  no  intelligent  person, 
standing  in  the  light  of  the  last  four  centuries,  and 
beholding  the  great  religious  movements  of  this 
age,  can  doubt  whether  Protestant  Christianity  is 
a  setting  or  a  rising  sun.  Every  year  it  is  robing 
itself  in  fuller  effulgence,  and  pouring  its  blessed 
illumination  upon  new  millions  of  earth's  benighted 
children. 

How  marvelous  the  advances  of  Christ's  kingdom 
in  our  days!  What  a  privilege  to  be  witnesses  and 
sharers  in  the  great  movements !  That  devout 
commentator.  Rev.  Albert  Barnes,  deeply  inter- 
ested in  the  kingdom  of  God,  rejoicing  in  its  ad- 
vances, and  the  clear  indications  of  still  greater 
strides  of  progress  soon  to  come,  was  accustomed 
often  to  say  that  he  would  like  to  live  a  hundred 
years  longer  than  the  allotted  term  of  human  life, 
that  he  might  participate  in  the  glories  of  the  grand 
advancing  era. 

Much  yet  remains  to  be  done.  Heavy  duties 
and  arduous  toils  are  before  us.  Stern  battles  are 
to  be  fought  All  along  the  vast  lines  of  Christ's 
militant  hosts  the  conflict  rages.  Skepticism  and 
worldliness  are  rallying  their  forces.  Subtle  and 
specious  forms  of  evil  are  seeking  to  undermine 
and  destroy.  But  over  the  storm  of  battle  hangs 
the  bright  bow  of  promise ;  and  tidings,  from  afar 


6/2       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

and  near,  of  mighty  conquests  cheer  us.  Even  in 
the  tomb,  where  some  think  faith  is  being  buried, 
we  see  the  angels  of  resurrection  standing.  The 
rapidly  accumulating  treasures  of  humanity  are 
being  joyfully  laid  at  the  feet  of  the  Son  of  God. 
The  utilities  of  art,  invention,  and  enterprise ;  the 
sublimest  discoveries  of  science  and  exploration ; 
the  broadest  researches  of  history,  ethnography, 
and  philology ;  the  beautiful  charities  of  the  good  ; 
the  best  thought  of  the  wise ;  the  cultured  ameni- 
ties of  the  rich  and  the  loving  gratitude  of  the  poor, 
unite  in  a  common  homage,  and  chant  hymns  of 
praise  to  the  great  Redeemer. 

*'  The  continual  and  steady  growth  of  Christianity ^ 
its  vigorous  life  in  spite  of  various  seasons  of  una- 
voidable ebb,  and  notwithstanding  the  presence  of 
many  sources  of  corruption,  and  its  continual  reju- 
venescence, are  no  ordinary  proof  of  its  divine  origin, 
as  well  as  of  its  superior  fitness  for  the  position  in 
the  world  which  it  claims  to  occupy T  * 

*  "  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,"  ninth  edition,  art,  "  Christianity." 


APPENDIX. 


ECCLESIASTICAL    AND    SOCIAL 
STATISTICS. 

The   United  States.    Tables  I  to  XXV. 

The   British   Islands.    Tables  XXVI   to  XXXII. 

Ecumenical  Statistics.     Tables  XXXIII  to  LI  I. 


APPEls^DIX. 


ECCLESIASTICAL    STATISTICS 
UNITED    STATES. 

TABLES    I    TO    XVII. 


TABLE  I.' 
Churches  and  Ministers  in  1775. 


Denominations. 


Congregational  

Episcopalian,  Protestant 

Baptist 

Presbyterian 

Lutheran 

German  Reformed 

Dutch  Reformed 

Associate  Reformed  .  . . . 

Moravian 

Methodist' 

Total 


1,918 


Churches. 

Ministers. 

700 

575 

300 

250 

380 

350 

300 

140 

60 

25 

60 

25 

60 

25 

20 

13 

8 

12 

30 

20 

1.435 


'  All  this  table,  except  the  item  in  regard  to  the  Methodist  Church,  then  not 
orf^anized  as  a  national  body,  was  taken  from  Rev.  Dr.  Baird's  "  Religion  in 
America,"  p.  210.  Harper  &  Brothers,  1856.  There  were  52  Roman  Catholic 
Churches  and  26  priests  not  included  in  this  table. 

'The  "Minutes"  for  1775  give  20  preachers,  10  circuits,  and  3,418  members. 
Each  circuit  comprised  several  societies,  or  Church  organizations. 


^^(i      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

TABLE  II. 
Churches,  Ministers,  and  Communicants,  1800. 


Dbnohinations. 


Church 

Organiza- 

tions or 

MinLs- 

Congrega- 
tions.' 

ters. 

1,500 

T  200 

810 

600 

287 

500 

300 

320 

264 

3.030 

2,651 

Communi- 
cants. 


Baptists,  Regular  ' 

Baptists,  Free-will ' 

Congregational  * 

Friend  • 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church  * 

Presbyterian ' 

Protestant  Episcopal  * 

Smaller  Bodies. 
Lutheran,  Dutch,  and  German  Reformed, 
Seventh-day  Baptist,  Six-Principle  Bap- 
tist, Mennonite,  Moravian,  etc.,  estim'd. 

Total 


100,000 
3,000 
75,000 
50,000 
64,894 
40,000 

'11,978 


20,000 


364,872 


"  In  some  cases  the  congregations  are  given. 

•"Christian  Retrospect  and  Register,"  by  Rev.  Dr.  Baird,  p.  220;  also  arti- 
cles on  the  "  History  of  the  Baptists,"by  Rev.  Rufus  Babcock,  D.D.,  in  "Ameri- 
can Quarterly  Register,"  1841-42. 

•  Appleton's  old  "  Encyclopedia,"  article,  Free-will  Baptists. 

•  "  Historical  Sketches  of  Congregationalism,"  by  Rev.  Joseph  S.  Clark,  D.D., 
and  Dr.  Baird's  "  Christian  Retrospect  and  Register,"  p.  220. 

'  Estimated. 

•  "  General  Minutes  of  Methodist  Episcopal  Church." 
'  Rev.  Robert  Baird,  D.D. 

•  "  Episcopal  Record,"  i860. 

•  Dr.  Baird,  in  "  Report  to  Evangelical  Alliance, '  1850,  set  the  number  of  com- 
municants at  16,000,  in  1800. 


TABLE  III. 

Churches,  Ministers,  and  Communicants,  1850. 


Denominations. 

Church 
Organiza- 
tions or 
Congrega- 
tions.' 

Minis- 
ters. 2 

Communi  - 
cants.' 

Baptist,*  Regular,  North  » 

3,557 
4,849 

2,665 

2,477 

296,614 

South* ... 

390,193 

Total 

8,406 

5.142 

686,807 

Appendix. 


^77 


TABLE  III,  (Continued.) 


Denominations. 


Church 
Organiza- 
tions or 


Baptist,  Free-will  • 

"       Seventh-day ' 

"       Seventh-day  German  *. 

"       Six-Principle* 

"       Anti-mission  * 


Total  Baptist 


Congregational  * 

Disciple,  or  Campbellite* 

Dutch  Reformed  * 

Dunker  * 

Episcopal,  Protestant '" 

Evangelical  Association  " 

Friend  (Evangelical)  (est'd  by  Friends). 

German  Reformed ' 

Lutheran  * 

Mennonite  * 

Moravian  * 


Methodist  Episcopal  Church' 


South"... 

African  '^. 

"    Zion"> 


"  Protestant ". 

"  Wesleyan'*  . 

"  Primitive".. 

"  Reformed  "  . 

"  Stillwellite ". 

Total  Methodist 


Minis- 
ters.'' 


1,126 
71 

21 

2.035 


11,659 

1,971 

1,898 
286 
152 

1.350 
200 

600 
1,603 

4(X) 
31 


'17,000 


Presbyterian,  Old  School  '* 2,595 

**  New  School " 1,568 

"  Reformed    General    Synod 

of,  in  North  America'*. . 

«■•  Ref 'd  Synod  of,  in  N.  Am."" 

"  Associate  " 

"  Associate  Reformed  "  .... 

'  '•  Cumberland  *' 

**  Other  small  bodies  (est'd). 


Total  Presbyterian . 


63 

50 

214 

332 

500 


5.322 


867 

58 

4 

25 

907 


7.003 

1,687 
848 

299 
160 

1.595 
195 

260 

1,400 

240 

27 

4,129 

1.556 

127 

71 

807 

400 

12 

50 


Communi- 
cants.* 


50,223 

6.351 

400 

3.586 

67.845 


815,212 

197.197 
118,618 

33.780 
7.849 

89.359 
"21,374 

70,000 

70,000 
163,000 

25,000 
3.027 

"693,811 
•*5i4,299 

■^22,127 
>V.8i7 

'*65,8i5 

'*2I,4CK.' 

'*I,II2 

"2,050 

200 


'7.152 
1,926 

1.473 

43 

33 

120 

219 

450 


4,264 


"1,325,631 

207,754 
139.797 

6,800 

6,000 

18,000 

26,340 

75,000 

8,000 


487,691 


678       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


TABLE  III,  (Continued.) 

D  ENOMIN  ATIONS. 

Church 
Organiza- 
tions or 
Congrega- 
tions.' 

Minis- 
ters.2 

Communi- 
cants.* 

500 
100 

43.072 

450 

75 

40,000 

800 

Schwenkfelder  '^  .  .        

United  Brethren" 

'"50,450 
11,000 

Several  small  bodies  (estimated) 

Aggregate 

25.655 

3,529.988 

'In  some  cases,  probably,  congregations  are  reported  instead  of  Church  or- 
ganizations. 
^  Local  preachers  and  licentiates  not  included. 
'  Some  Churches  include  baptized  children,  but  not  many. 

*  "  Baptist  Almanac,"  1851. 

'  Divided  on  the  basis  of  the  two  General  Conventions,  which,  since  the  schism 
in  1845,  have  not  affiliated,  as  is  also  the  case  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Churches,  North  and  South,  and  the  Presbyterian. 

•  Free-will  Baptist  "  Register,"  for  1851. 

'  Seventh-day  Baptist  "  Manual,"  for  1852. 

">  "  Christian  Almanac,"  1850,  and  Dr.  Baird's  "  Christian  Retrospect  and 
Register." 

'  "  Christian  Retrospect  and  Register,"  by  Dr.  Baird. 

'"  "  Church  Almanac." 

"  Official  document,  number  of  churches  estimated. 

**  Ministers  added  with  members  to  make  the  total  communicants,  as  with  the 
Methodist  bodies,  because  of  peculiarities  of  Church  polity.     See  "  Methodist." 

'^  "  Minutes  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,"  1850. 

'•'  According  to  the  polity  of  the  Methodist  Churches,  it  is  necessary  to  add 
the  number  of  preachers  to  the  number  of  members,  in  order  to  get  the  total 
communicants,  because  they  are  not  reckoned  into  the  number  of  communicants 
in  the  local  Churches,  as  with  other  denominations. 

'*  Fox  and  Hoyt's  "  Ecclesiastical  Register." 

'*  The  Methodist  Minutes  do  not  report  the  number  of  Church  organizations. 
The  United  States  Census  for  1850  gave  14,861  church  edifices,  (all  kinds  ol 
Methodists.)  The  organizations  or  societies  considerably  exceed  the  edifices; 
hence  the  above  number  is  partly  estimated. 

"  Besides  10,^^9  local  preachers. 

'*  "  Mmutes  of  General  Assembly,"  Old  School,  1850. 

'•  "Minutes  of  General  Assembly,"  New  School,  1850. 

**  Rev.  R.  Baird,  D.D.,  in  "  American  and  Foreign  Christian  Union,"  \-ol,  ii, 
pp.  77,  78. 

2'  "  Christian  Retrospect  and  Register,"  by  Rev.  Robert  Baird,  D.D. 

«^  Estimated  by  Revs.  J.  Litch  and  J.  V.  Hines. 

23  Official  sources.     Number  of  churches  estimated. 


Appendix. 


679 


TABLE   IV. 
Churches,  Ministers,  and  Communicants,  1870. 


Denominations. 


Baptist, 


Regular,  North  '. . . 

South*... 

"         Colored*. 


Total  Regular  Baptist. 
Free-will* 


Minor  bodies^ 


Seventh-day ' 


Six-Principle  •. 


German  '. 


Total  Baptist. 


Congregational ' 

Disciple,  or  Campbellite  * 

Dunker" 

Episcopal,  Protestant*... 
Evangelical  Association  *. 
Friend, "  Evangelical 


Lutheran,"  General  Synod 

*'  "       Council , 

"                 "       Synod  of  N.  Amer, 
"  Other  Synods , 


Total  Lutheran. 


Mennonite  '*. 
Moravian  '*. . 


Methodist  Episcopal  Church ' 


South«». 
African*' 
"  Zion" 


Protestant*' 

Wesleyan".   . . , . 

Free*" 

Primitive" 

Welsh  Calvinistic' 

Reformed  * 

"  Congregational*'. 

'■  The  Methodist  Church  "  **. 


Total  Methodist "25,278  15,076 


Church 
Organiz- 
ations.' 


5.857 

10,777 

811 


*I7.445 

1.355 

174 

78 

20 

22 


19,094 

3.I2I 

'^2,478 
300 

'«2,752 

'^815 
392 


'«997 
998 
214 

1,183 


*3.392 


270 
72 


Minis- 
ters.' 


4,112 
6,331 

375 


10.818 

1,116 

86 

20 


12,040 

3,194 
2,200 

250 
2,803 

587 


591 
527 
121 
686 


I1925 


325 
66 


9.193 

2,922 

560 

694 

423 

250 

128 

20 

20 

100 
766 


Communi- 
cants.' 


495,099 
790,252 
125,142 


1,410,493 

65,605 

8,549 
7,609 
2,000 
3,000 


1,497,256 

306,518 
450,000 

40,000 
207,762 
'^73.566 

57,405 


91  720 
129,516 

16,662 
150,640 


"388,538 


39,100 
7,634 


'*i, 376,327 

''598.350 

''200,560 

"164,694 

"72,423 

"20,250 

"7,866 

"2,020 

2,000 

3,000 

6,000 

'854,562 


»2,499,052 


68o      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


TABLE  IV,  (Continued.) 


Dbnominations. 


Church 
Organiz- 
ations.' 


Minis- 
ters,* 


Communi- 
cants.' 


Presbyterian,  General  Assembly^' 

South". 
"         United  of  North  America.". 

Reformed,  Synod" 

"     General". 
"  "        Ass.  Syn.  of  South" 

"         Cumberland" 

Free  Synod" 

*'         Minor  bodies  * 


4,526 

1,469 

729 

87 
60 


1,600 


4.238 
840 

553 
86 


1,116 
60 


446,561 
82,014 
69,805 

8.577 
6,000 
4.500 

80,000 
6,000 

10,000 


Total  Presbyterian. 


8,471 


6,893 


713.457 


Reformed  Church,  (late  Dutch) " 

"  "         (late  German) ".. . 

Second  Advent  ''■^ 

"         "        Seventh-day  ** 

United  Brethren  ^ 

Winebrennarian,  or  Church  of  God*  . 

MINOR  BODIES  NOT  WELL  KNOWN. 

Bible  Christian,  Schwenkfelder,  German 
Evangelical  Ch.  Union,  River  Breth- 
ren, Bible  Union  * 


464 

1. 179 

225 

'1.445 
400 


493 
526 


881 
350 


61,444 
96,728 
56,000 
10,000 
'»ii8,936 
30,000 


20,000 


Aggregate 70,14847,609     6,673,396 


'  See  References  (i,  2,  3)  under  previous  Table.       ^  "  Baptist  Year-Book,'"  1871. 

•  For  the  division,  see  Explanation  under  Table  V,  Reference  6. 

•  Free-will  Baptist  "  Register,"  1871.  *  Official  statement  to  the  author. 

•  Estimated.  '  "  Congregational  Quarterly,"  1871. 

•  Estimate  of  leading  officials.     Number  of  Churches  from  "  U.S.  Census,"  1870. 

•  Church  Almanac,  1871.  '"  "  Friends'  Review,"  1871. 

>»  "N.  Y.  Observer  Year-Book,"  1871.  "  "  United  States  Census,"  187a 

'8  Ministers  added  with  members,  to  make  the  full  number  of  communicants 
See  Explanation  under  Tables  III  and  V. 

•*  In  1870  the  "  United  States  Census"  reported  3,061  less  Church  organizations 
of  the  Regular  Baptists  than  their  "  Year-book  "  gave.  See  "  Compendium  of 
Census,"  1870,  p.  517,  note. 

'•  "  United  States  Census"  gave  15,829  Baptist  Churches  of  all  kinds. 

'*  Congregations,  or  Parishes.  •'  Includes  baptized  children  in  seme  synods. 

>*  Prof.  Schem,  1867.  "»  Official  Statement.         20  "  Annual  Minutes,'    1870. 

*'  "  Methodist  Almanac,"  1871.  '^  Appleton's  "Annual  Cyclopedia,'   1870. 

28  "  N.  Y.  Observer  Year-Book,"  1871.         '^'^  "  Minutes"  of  said  Church,  1871. 

««  "  Official  Minutes,"  1870.  "•  For  1866. 

*'  "  New  York  Observer  Year-Book,"  1871. 

'8  Estimated  by  Revs.  J.  Litch  and  J.  V.  Hines. 


Appendix. 


68 1 


TABLE  V. 
Churches,  Ministers,  and  Communicants,  1880.' 


EVANGKLICAL  DENOMINATIONS. 


Baptist,*  Regular,  North* 

South' 

Colored* 

Total 

Baptist,  Free-wiir 

"  *'       "    Minor  bodies'. .. . 

"      Anti-mission* 

"      Seventh-day* 

"            "         "    German  (estimated) 
*'      Six-Principle  * 

Total  Baptist 

Congregational  (Orthodox)" 

Disciple  '* 

Danker  '* 

Episcopal,  Protestant'* 

"  Reformed'* 

Evangelical  Association" 

Friend,  Evangelical  (partly  estimated) . 

Lutheran,'*  General  Council < 

"  General  Synod,  South , 

North 

"  Independent 

"  Synodical  Conference 

Total  Lutheran 

Methodist  Episcopal*' 

South" 

"  "  African" 

"  ••  "       Zion»».. 

"  "  Colored'* 

"         Congregational" 

Free** 

"         Primitive** 

"         Protestant" 

"         Reformed  (estimated) 

"  Union  American'* 

"         Wesleyan  in  United  States** 

Total  Methodist 

44 


u  2  I 
a  a  V 

mi 


6,782 

13,827 

5.451 


26,060 
1.432 

900 
94 
25 
20 


'"28,531 

3.743 

5.100 

250 

*3,ooo 

1.477 
392 

1. 151 

214 

1,285 

913 
1.990 


19 


5.553 


"29,278 


5.280 
8.227 
3.089 


16,596 
1. 213 

400 
no 


18,331 

3.654 
3.782 

200 
3.432 

roo 

893 
200 

624 
122 
841 

369 
1,176 


3.132 

12,096 

3.887 

1.738 

1,800 

638 

225 

260 

52 

1.385 

lOI 

400 


22,582 


S  O  □ 


608,556 

1,026.413 

661,358 


2,296,327 

78,012 
25.000 
40.000 

8.539 
3,000 
2,000 


2.452,878 

384.332 
591.821 

60,000 

338.333 

9.448 

112,197 

60,000 

184,974 
18,223 

123,813 
69.353 

554.50s 


»»  950,868 

"1.755,018 
832,189 
387,566 
300,000 
112,938 
13,750 
12,318 

3.369 

135,000 

3,000 

2,250 

17,087 


'3  574.485 


682       Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


TABLE  V,  (Continued.) 


EVANGBLICAL  DENOMINATIONS. 


ii  S  o  g 

U  bso  & 


ear 

.Saa 

io| 

^  o  a 


Mennonite  (estimated). 
Moravian** 


Presbyterian,  General  Assembly  '• 

South^i 
*'  United,  of  North  America*' 

"  Cumberland*' 

"  Synod  of  Reformed*' 

"  Gen.  Synod  of  Reformed** 

"  Welsh  Calvinistic** 

"  Associate  Synod  of  South** 

"  Other  bodies  (estimated). . 

Total  Presbyterian 


Reformed  Church  Hate  Dutch) »' 

"  "        (late  German)  **  .  . . 

Second  Advent** 

"  "         Seventh-day*' 

United  Brethren*'' 

Winebrennarian,  or  Church  of  God  *  . 
German  Evang'l  Ch.  Union,  Bible  Chris- 
tians,   Schwenkfelders,    Bible    Union, 
River  Brethren,  littleknown  (estimat'd) 


300 
84 

5,489 
1,928 

813 
2.457 
117 
50 
137 
112 


350 
94 

5.044 
1,060 

684 
1,386 

III 
32 

100 

121 


11,103 

510 
1,405 

800 
*«640 

4,524 
400 


8,538 

544 
748 
600 
144 
2,196 
350 


50,000 
9.491 

578,671 

120,028 

82,119 

111,863 

10,473 

6,800 

11,000 

6,686 

10,000 


937,640 

80,208 

155,857 
70,000 
15,570 

157,835 
30,000 


25,000 


Aggregate 97,090  69,870    10,065,963 


•  The  "Year-Books"  for  1881  contain  the  statistics  for  1880;  but  some  of  the 
"  Annual  Minutes  "  of  the  Churches  give  the  statistics  for  the  given  year. 

'  In  some  cases  the  congregations  are  reported  ;  in  others,  only  the  organized 
Churches.  ^  Local  preachers  and  licentiates  not  included. 

•  A  few  denominations  reckon  baptized  children  as  members,  but  by  far  the 
smaller  part.  '  "  Baptist  Year-Book,"  for  1881. 

•  Divided  on  the  basis  of  the  two  General  Conventions,  North  and  South,  which 
are  as  separate  as  the  Methodist  and  the  Presbyterian  Churches,  North  and 
South.    The  colored  associations  are  also  independent  of  the  others. 

'  Free-will  Baptist  "  Register,"  for  1881.  *  Ibid.,  1880. 

'  "  Minutes  of  Seventh-day  Baptist  Convention,"  for  1880. 

'"  Probably  to  some  extent  congregations.  See  references  14  and  15,  under 
previous  table. 

"  Official  Statistics,  furnished  by  Rev.  A.  H.  Quint,  D  D.,  1881. 

'*  Furnished  by  Rev.  F.  W.  Green,  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Missionary 
Society  of  the  Disciples.  "  Official  returns  for  1877. 


Appendix. 


683 


'*"  Church  Almanac,  for  1881."     Another  Almanac,  a  few  more.      "Parishes. 

"  Statistics  published  after  late  Convention.       "  "Almanac  Evang.  Ass'n,  i88t. 

"  "  Lutheran  Church  Almanac,"  1881.  "  Congregations. 

**  Including  baptized  children  in  some  Synods.         ^'  To  December,  1880. 

^'  Including  ministers,  because  not  reckoned  elsewhere  as  communicants,  and 
also  probationers.     See  explanation  under  Table  III. 

*^  "  Almanac  of  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,"  for  1881. 

"  "  Official  Report,"  for  1880. 

*'  Furnished  by  Rev.  R.  G.  Dyson,  a  prominent  minister  of  said  Church. 

26    '  Methodist  Almanac,"  1881.         "  Furnished  for  1880  by  a  leading  minister. 

*'  "  Minutes,"  for  1880.  "  Minutes  of  said  Church,  for  1879. 

^o  Church  organizations  of  the  Methodist  Churches  are  not  published  in  the 
"  Miniites,"  and  therefore  cannot  be  accurately  gathered.  The  "  United  States 
Census"  reported  25,278  for  all  Methodist  bodies  in  1870.  It  is  a  moderate  esti- 
mate to  suppose  that  they  have  since  increased  4,000.  One  branch  of  Methodism 
has  increased  its  church  edifices  3,700  since  1870. 

»>  "  Official  Minutes,"  1880.        sa  Furnished  by  Rev.  David  Steele,  D.D.,  Phila. 

"  Report  of  the  Second  Council  of  the  Presbyterian  Alliance,  p.  963. 

'♦  "  Almanac  of  Refd  Ch.,"  1881.         '*  Estimated  by  leading  Advent  ofiBdals. 

'•  Congiegations.  •'  "  Almanac  of  United  Brethren,"  for  x88i. 


TABLE  VI. 


Church  Organizations  and  Communicants. 

(From  United  States  Census,  1890,  classified  by  the  author.) 


Denominations. 


Church 
Ministers.    Organiza- 
i  tions. 


Communi- 
cants or 
Members. 


/.   Evangelical  Bodies. 
Adventists : 

1.  Advent  Christians 

2.  Church  of  God . 

3.  Church  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus 

4.  Evangelical 

5.  Life  and  Advent  Union 

6.  Seventh-day 

Total 

Baptists: 

1.  Church  of  Christ 

2.  Free-will 

3.  Free-will,  Original 

4.  General 

5.  Old  Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit. . 

6.  Primitive 

7.  Regular,  North 

8.  Regular,  South,  White 


883 

580 

25,816 

19 

29 

647 

94 

95 

2,872 

34 

30 

1. 147 

50» 

28 

1,018 

284 

995 

28,991 

1.364 

1.757 

60,491 

80 

152 

8,254 

1.493 

I,SS6 

87,898 

118 

167 

11,864 

332; 

399 

21,362 

300 

473 

12,851 

2,040 

3,222 

121,347 

6,685 

7.907 

800,450 

8,957 

16,238 

1,280,066 

684      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

TABLE  VI,  (Continued.) 


Denominations. 


Ministers. 


Church    I    Communi- 
Organiza-         cants  or 
tions.      !     Members. 


Baptists  (Continued) : 

g.   Regular,  Colored 

10.  Separate 

11.  Seventh-day 

12.  Six-Principle 

13.  United 

Total 

Brethren,  Plymouth  : 

I 

II 

Ill 

IV 

Total. 

Brethren,  River  : 

1.  In  Christ.  ...    

2.  Old  Order  of  Yorker 

3.  United    Zion's   Children. . . . 

Total 

Catholic : 

1.  Apostolic 

2.  Armenian,  The 

3.  Reformed 

Total 

Christadelphians 

Christians,  The 

Church,  South 

Total 

Christian   Missionary  Association. 

Cliristian  Union  Churches 

Church  of  God  (Winebrennarians) 

Congregationalists 

Disciples  of  Christ 

Dunkards : 

1.  Conservative 

2.  Old  Order 


5,468 

19 

"5 

14 

25 


12,533 

24! 

106 

i8| 
204! 


1,348,989 

1,599 

9-143 

937 

13,209 


25,646 


43>o29J  3,717,969 


109! 

881 
86 
31 


128 

7 
20 


155 


1,350 


1,435 

10 

183 
522 

5-05'^ 
3,773 

1,622 
237 


314 

78 

8 

26 


24 
63 

1,281 
143 


1,424 

13 

294 

479 

4,868 

7.246 


720 

135I 


2,289 

2,419 

1,235 

718 


6,661 

2,638 
214 
525 


3.427 


1.394 

335 
1,000 


2,729 

1,277 

90,718 
13,004 


103,722 

754 
18,214 
22,511 

512,771 
641,051 

61,101 
4.41I 


Appendix. 

TABLE  VI,  (Continued.) 


685 


Denominations. 


Dunkaids  (Continued) : 

3.  Progressive 

4.  Seventh-day  Baptists,  German. 


Total. 


Evangelical  Association. 

Friends : 

1.  Orthodox 

2.  Primitive 

3.  Wilburite 

Total 


Friends  of  the  Temple 

German  Evangelical  Synod. 

Lutherans  : 

1.  General  Synod 

2.  United  Synod,  South. 

3.  General  Council 

4.  Synodical  Conference. 


Independent  Synods. 

5.  Joint  Synod  of  Ohio 

6.  Buffalo  Synod 

7.  Hauge's 

8.  Norwegian  in  North  America. 

9.  Michigan 

10.  Danish  in  America 

11.  German,  Augsburg 

12.  Danish  Church  Association.. .  . 

13.  Icelandic  Synod 

14.  Immanuel 

15.  .Suomai 

16.  United  Norwegians  of  .Vmerica 

17.  Independent  Congregations. .  . 

Total 

Mennonites  : 

1.  Mennonite 

2.  Bruederhoef 

3.  .\mish 

4.  Old  Amish 

5.  Apostolic 


Church 

Communi- 

Ministers. 

Organiza-  1 

cants  or 

tions.      ^ 

Members. 

224 

128 

8,089 

5 

6 

194 

2,088 

989 

73.795 

1.235 

2,310 

138.313 

1,113 

794 

80,655 

II 

9 

232 

38 

52 

4,329 

1,162 

855 

85,216 

4 

4 

340 

680 

870 

187,432 

966 

1,424 

164,640 

201 

414 

37,457 

1,153 

2,044 

324.846 

1,282 

1.934 

357,153 

397 

421 

69,505 

20 

27 

4,242 

58 

175 

14.730 

194 

489 

55.452 

37 

65 

11,482 

108 

131 

10,181 

49 

23 

7,010 

40 

50 

3-493 

I 

13 

1,991 

21 

21 

5.580 

& 

II 

1,385 

109 

1,122 

119,972 

47 

231 

41.953 

4,691 

8.595 

1,231,072 

336 

246 

17,078 

9 

5 

352 

228 

97 

10,101 

71 

22 

2,038 

2 

2 

209 

686      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

TABLE  VI,  (Continued.) 


Denominations. 


Ministers. 


Church 
Organiza- 
tions. 


Communi- 
cants or 
Members. 


Mennonites  (Continued) : 

6.  Reformed. 

7.  General  Conference 

8.  Church  of  God  in  Christ 

9.  Old  (Wisler) 

10.  Bundes  Conference 

11.  Defenseless 

12.  Brethren  in  Christ 

Total 

Methodists : 

1.  Methodist  Episcopal 

2.  Union  American  Episcopal. . . 

3.  African  Methodist  Episcoj)al. . 

4.  African  Union  Meth.  Protestant 

5.  African  Meth.  Episcopal  Zion . 

6.  Protestant  Methodist 

7.  Wesleyan 

8.  Methodist  Episcopal,  South. .  . 

9.  Congregational 

10.  Congregational,  Colored 

11.  Congregational,  New 

12.  Zion  Union  Apostolic 

13.  Colored  Methodist  Episcopal. 

14.  Primitive 

15.  Free 

16.  Independent 

17.  Evangelical  Missionary 

Total 

Moravians 

Presbyterians : 

1.  Presb'n,  Gen'l  Assembly,  North 

2.  Cumberland 

3.  Cumberland,   Colored 

4.  Welsh  Calvinistic 

5.  United  of  North  America 

6.  Presb'n  Gen'l  Assembly,  South 

7.  Associate  of  N.  A 

8.  Associate  Reformed  Synod,  So. 

9.  Reformed  Presbyt'n  in  U.  S. .  . 
10.  Reformed  Presbyt'n  in  N.  A. . 


905 


550 


1,655 

5,670 
471 
610 

1,388 
856 

1,113 


41,541 


15,423 

25,861 

2,240,354 

32 

42 

2,279 

3,321 

2,481 

452,725 

40 

40 

3,415 

1.565 

1,704 

349.788 

1,441 

2,529 

141,989 

600 

565 

16,492 

4,801 

15,017 

1,209,976 

150 

214 

8,765 

5 

9 

319 

20 

24 

1,059 

30 

32 

2,346 

1,800 

1,759 

129,383 

60 

84 

4,764 

657 

1,102 

22,110 

8 

15 

3,569 

47 

II 

951 

30,000 

51,489 

4.589,284 

114 

94 

11,781 

5,934 

6,717 

788,224 

1,861 

2,791 

164.940 

393 

224 

12,956 

TOO 

187 

12,722 

731 

866 

94,402 

1,129 

2,391 

179,721 

12 

31 

1,053 

133 

116 

8,501 

124 

115I 

10,574 

29 

33I 

4,602 

Appendix. 

TABLE  VI,  (Continued.) 


687 


Denominations. 


Church        Commuiii- 
'  Ministers.  '  Or^aniza-  !      cants  or 
(      tions.  .Members. 


Presbyterians  (Continued) : 

11.  Refor'd  Preshyt'n  (Covenanted) 

12.  Refor'd  Presbyt'n  in  U.S.  &  Can. 

Total 


Protestant  Episcopal. 
Reformed 


Total. 


Reformed  Church : 

1.  Church  in  .\merica 

2.  Church  in  United  States. 

3.  Christian 


Total. 


Salvation  Army.. 
Schwenkfeldians. 
Social  Brethren . . 


United  Brethren  : 

1.  In  Christ 

2.  (Old  Constitution). 

Total 


Independent  Congregations. 
Total  Evangelical. . 


//.  N on- Evangelical  Bodies. 

Chinese  Temples 

Christian  Scientists 

Church  of  the  New  Jerusalem 

Church  Triumphant  (Schweinfurth). 

Communistic  Societies : 

1.  Shakers 

2.  Amana 

3.  Harmony 

4.  Separatists 

5.  New  Icaria 


4,224         5,102         540,509 


558     572     92,970 

880I   1,510    204,518 

68      99     12,470 


1,506 


3 
17 

2,267' 
531 


2,i8i|    309,958 


329 

4 

20 


3,731 
795 


2,798 
.  54 


5,185 


26 
119 


4,526 
156 


8,742 
306 
913 


202,474 
22,807 


151,172 


47 
221 

154 
12 


225,281 
14,126 


13,823,518 


8,724 

7,095 

384 


1,728 

1,600 

250 

200 

21 


688      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


TABLE  VI,  (Continued.) 


Denominations. 

Ministers. 

Church 
Organiza- 
tions. 

Communi- 
cants or 
Members. 

Communistic  Societies  (Continued): 
6.  Altruists 

I 
I 

5 

25 
20 

7.  Adonai  Shomo 

8.  Churcli  Triumphant 

205 

Total 

"5 
44 

125 

75 

32 

201 

52 

316 
217 

4,049 

21,992 
36,156 

57,597 
72,899 

Friends  (Hicksite) 

German  Evangelical  Protestant 

Jews  : 

1.  Orthodox _ 

2.  Reformed 

Total 

200          =;'5'5 

130,496 

144,352 
21,773 

Latter  Day  Saints  : 

1.  Church  of  Jesus  Christ 

2.  Reorganized 

543 
1,500 

425 
431 

Total 

2.043 

515 
70S 

856 

4 

334 

40 

421 

956 

166,125 

1,064 

45,030 

695 

67,749 

49,194 

Society  of  Ethical  Culture 

Spiritualists 

Theosophists 

Unitarians 

Universalists 

Total  Non- Evangelical. . . . 

///.   Catholics. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

Greek  Catholics 

3.770 

9,157 

9 

13 

I 

I 

3,863 

10,231 

14 

12 

I 

4, 

538,753 

6,231,417 
10,850 

13,504 
100 

Russian    Orthodox 

Greek  Orthodox 

Old  Catholics 

66  c 

Total  Catholics 

9,181 

98,185 
3,770 
9,181 

10,262 

I5t,i72 

3,863 

10,262 

6,256,536 

13,823,518 

538,753 
6,256,536 

Evancjelical 

Non-Evangelical 

Catholic 

Aggregate 

111,136 

165,297 

20,618,807 

Appendix. 


689 


TABLE  VII. 
Church  Statistics  ov  the  United  Statks — 1894. 

(Krom  Church  Authorities,  except  those  for  1890,  which  could  be  obtained  only 
from  the  United  States  Census.) 


Year. 

Denominations. 

Ministers. 

Churches 
orParishes. 

Communi- 
cants or 
Members. 

1894 
1890 

1894 

/.  Evangelical  Churches. 
Adventists  : 

1.  Advent  Christians 

2.  Church  of  God 

833 
19 
94 
50 
45 

267 

600 
29 

95 
45 

28 

1,151 

40,000 

647 

2,872 

7,332 

1,500 

37,404 

3.  Ch.  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus. 

4.  Evanrelicnl          

5.  Life  and  Advent  Union.. 

6.  Seventh-day 

TotaL  ... 

1,308 

80 

1,538 

118 

400 

300 

2,040 

8,182 

g,6io 

7,562 

19 
112 

14 

25 

1,948 

152 

1,537 

167 

516 

473 

3,222 

8,322 

17,346 

12.454 

24 

■   92 

18 

204 

89,755 

8,254 

82,694 

11,864 

23,272 

12,851 

121,347 

842,587 

1,363,351 

1,291,046 

1,599 
8,429 

937 
13,209 

1890 

1893 
1890 

1893 
1890 

Baptists: 

1.  Church  of  Christ 

2.  Free-will 

3.  Free-will,  Original 

4.  General 

5.  OldTwo-Seed-in-the-Spirit 

6.  Primitive 

1893 

7.  Regular,  North 

8.  Regular,  South 

1890 

1893 
1890 

9.   Regular,  Colored 

10.  Separate 

II.   Seventh-day 

12.  Six-Principle 

13.  United 

Total 

30,000 

44,527 

109 

88 
86 
31 

3,781,440 

2,289 
2,419 

1,235 
718 

1890 

Brethren,  Plymouth : 

I 

II 

•  1 

Ill 

<• 

IV 

Total 

128 

7 
20 

314 

78 

8 

25 

6,661 

1890 

Brethren,  River : 

I.   In  Christ 

2,688 

2.  Old  Order  of  Yorker 

3.  United  Zion's  Children. . . 

Total 

214 

525 

155 

III 

3,427 

690      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

TABLE  VII,  (Continued.) 


Year, 


Denominations. 


Ministers. 


Churches 
orParishes 


Communi- 
cants or 
Members. 


Catholic  :  i.  Apostolic. 

2.  Armenian,  The... 

3.  Reformed 


Total. 


1890 

1893 
1890 


1893 


1893 


1893 


Cliristadelphians 

Cliristians,  North  and  South. 
Christian  Miss.  Association. . 
Christian  Union  Churches.  .  . 
Church  of  God  (Winebrennarians) 

Congregationalists 

Disciples  of  Christ 


Dunkards  :   i.  Conservative. 

2.  Old  Order 

3.  Progressive 


Total . 


Evangelical  Association. 


Friends :   i.  Orthodox 

2.  Primitive 

3.  Wilburite 


Total . 


1890  Friends  of  the  Temple. 

1893' 
1890 

1893 


1894 
1890 


German  Evang.  Church  Union 
Independent  Congregations. . . 

Lutherans:  i.  General  Synod. , 

2.  General  Council 

3.  United  Synod,  South. ... 

4.  Synodical  Conference  ... 

5.  Ind.  Synods  and  Cong's. . , 


Total . 


Mennonites : 

1.  Mennonites. 

2.  Amish 

3.  Amish,  Old.. 

4.  Apostolic  . . . 


i,3ir 
10 

183 

522 

5,138 

3.887 

2,000 

'237 
'  224 


2,461 

1,327 

1,113 
II 

38 


I,l62J 

4 

765 
54 

1,088 
1,084 
206 
1,607 
1.483 


5,46s 


336 
228 

71 
2 


24 

63 
1,424 

13 
294 

479 
5.236 
7.850 

675 
'135 
I128 


938 
'  2,310 

794 

9 

52 


855 

4 
972 
156 

1,491 

1.747 

441 

2,274 

3,260 


9.213 


246 

97 

22 

2 


1,394 

335 

1,000 


2.729 

1,277 
110,701 

754 

18,214 

22,511 

561,631 

700,650 

75,000 
3.000 
9,000 


87,000 

145,829 

80,655 

232 

4,329 


85,216 

340 

175,667 

14,126 

169,689 
302,275 
33,016 
440,489 
314,850 


1,260,319 


18,078 

10,601 

2,038 

209 


Appendix. 


691 


TABLE  VII,  (Continued.) 


Year. 


Denominations. 


Communi- 
cants or 
Members. 


1890 


1893 
1890 

1893 


Mennonites  (Continued): 

1890        5.  Brethren  in  Christ 

"  6.  Bruederhoef 

"  7.  Bundes  Conference , 

"  8.  Cirurch  of  God  in  Christ 

"  9.  Defenseless 

"         10.  General  Conference. .. . 

II.  Old(Wisler) 

"         12.  Reformed 


Total. 


1893 


1890 
1893 
1894 
1890 
1894 

1890 

1893 
1890 


Methodists : 

1.  African  Meth.  Epis.  Ch. . 

2.  African  Meth.  Epis.  Zion. 

3.  African  Union  M.  E.  Plot. 

4.  Colored  Meth.  Epis 

5.  Congregational 

6.  Congregational  Colored. . 

7.  Congregational  New 

8.  Evangelical  Missionary. . 

9.  Free 

10.  Independent 

11.  Methodist  Episcopal 

12.  Meth.  Epis.,  South 

13.  Primitive 

14.  Protestant 

15.  Union  Amer.  Meth.  Epis. 

16.  Wesleyan  American 

17.  Zion  Union  Apostolic. . . 

Total 

Moravians 

Presbyterians : 

1.  Associate  of  North  Amer. 

2.  Assoc.  Ref'd  Synod  of  S.  A. 

3.  Cumberland 

4.  Cumberland,  Colored.. .  . 

5.  General  Assembly 

6.  General  Assembly,  South. 

7.  Reformed  in  Nortli  Amer. 

8.  Reformed  in  U.  S 

9.  Ref'd  in  U.S.  and  Canada 


905' 


3.321 

l.5f'5, 

40 

1,800 

150 

5, 

20 

47 

624 

8 

16,454 

5.487 

77 

1.441 

32 

600 

30 

31.681 
"7 


12 

103 

1,966 

393 
6,641 

1. 319 

33 

107 

I 


550 

2,481 

1,704 

40 

1.759 

214 

9 

24 

II 

'  1,102 

15 
25,861 

15.017 
104 

2,529 
42 

565 
32 


43.040 


452.725 
349.788 

3.415 
129,383 

8.765 
319 

1.059 

951 
23,326 

2,569 
2,540.525 
1,345,210 

5.725 
141,989 

2.279 

16,492 

2.346 


51.509 


94 


31 

I3ii 

2,920! 

224 

7.387 

2,713 

'39 

122 

1 


5,026,866 
12,183 


1,053 

lO.oSS 

184,138 

12,956 

895.997 

199,167 

4.602 

9.874 
600 


692      Problem  of  Reugious  Progress. 

TABLE  Vn,  (Continued.) 


Year. 


Denominations. 


Ministers. 


Churches 
orParishes 


Communi- 
cants or 
Members. 


i8go 

1893 

i8go 


1893 

1893 
1890 


1894 
1890 


1893 


Presbyterians  (Continued): 

10.  Reformed  (Covenanted). 

11.  United.. 

12.  Welsh  Calvinistic 


I 

810 
100 


4 
935 

187 


37 

111,119 

12,722 


TotaL 


Protestant  Episcopal : 

1.  Prot.  Epis.  (Regular). 

2.  Protestant  Reformed. 


Total, 


Reformed  Ch.:   i.  (Late  Dutch) 

2.  (Late  German) 

3.  Christian 


Total. 


Salvation  Army. 
Schvvenkfeldians. 
Social  Brethren. . 


United  Brethren  : 

1.  Old  Church 

2.  (Old  Constitution). 


11,486 


4.232 
120 


14,694 


4.5S3 
"5 


1-442,353 


560,645 
10,500 


4>352 

598 
910 


4,t 

603 

1,590 

99 


571.145 

97.520 

217,088 

12,470 


1,576 

Officers 

1.753 

3 

17 


1,049 
531 


2,292 

Bands. 
631 

4 
20 


4,188 
795 


327,078 

Enrolled. 
50,000 
306 
913 


208,452 
22,807 


Total. 


1,580 


4.983 


231,259 


1890 


Total  Evangelical.  ...     107,335 


//.  Non- Evangelical  Bodies. 

Chinese  Temples 

Christian  Scientists 

Church  of  the  New  Jerusalem. . 
ChurchTriumph't(Schweinfurth) 


26 
119 


Communistic  Societies: 

1.  Adonai  Shomo 

2.  Altruists 

3.  Amana 

4.  Church  Triumphant. 

5.  Harmony 

6.  New  Icaria 


156,206 


47 
221 

154 
12 


14,773.390 


8,724 

7.095 

384 


20 

25 

1,600 

205 

250 

21 


Appendix. 


693 


TABLE  VII,  (Continued.) 


Year. 


Denominations. 


Communi- 
cants or 
Members. 


1890 


Comimuii.stic  Societies  (Cont'd) 

7.  Separatists 

8.  Sh.ikers 


Total. 


1890  Friends  (Hicksite) 

i8Qo'German  Evansrelical  Protestant 


1890 


1890 


1890 

iSgo 
1894 


Jews:    I.   Orthodox. 
2.   Reformed 


1890 


Total 

Latter  Day  Saints : 

1.  Church  of  Jesus  Christ. 

2.  Reorganized 


Total . 


Society  of  Ethical  Culture. 

Spiritualists 

Theosophists 

Unitarians 

Universalists 


Total  Non-Evangelical 


///.    Catholics. 

I  Greek  Catholics 

Greek  Orthodox 

Old  Catholics 

1893' Roman  Catholic  Church. 
1890  Russian  Orthodox 


Total  Catholics. 


Evangelical  Churches. 

Non-Evangelical 

Catholic  Churches.. . . 


Aggregate . 


200 

1,728 


10,850 

100 

665 

27  485.640 

13.504 


107,335 

3,8221        3,943 
9,710         8,543 


7-510,759 


156,206'  14,773,390 

534.422 

7.510,759 


120,867!    168,692  22,818,571 


'  For  1890. 

'  Calculated  on  the  basis  of  85  per  cent,  of  total  Roman  Catholic  population,  as 
in  the  United  States  Census  for  1890.  "Sadlier's  Almanac  "  for  1894  is  the  basis 
for  the  above  calculation  for  the  communicants. 


694      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


TABLE   VIII. 
Recapitulation  of  Evangelical  Bodies. 


Year. 

Churches  or 
Congregations. 

Ordained 
Ministers. 

Communicants 
or  Members. 

I77C                        .  .  . 

1,918 

3,030 

43,072 

70,148 

97,090 

151,172 

159,206 

1,435 
2,651 

25,555 
47,609 
69,870 
98,085 
107,335 

1800 

364,872 

3,529,988 

6,673,396 

10,065,963 

13,823,618 

1850 

1870 

1880 

i8qo 

1804 

14,818,391 

Population  of  the  United  States. 


1775 2,640,000 

1800 5,305,923 

1850 23,191,876 


1870 38.558,371 

1880 50,152,866 

1890 62,622,250 


Ratio  of  Communicants  to  the  Population. 
1800  one  in  14.50  inhabitants.  1880  one  in     5         inhabitants. 

1S50       "         6.57  "  1890       "         4.53 

1870       "         5.78 

From  1800  to  1890  the  population  increased  11. 8  fold. 
From  1800  to  1890  the  communicants  increased  38  fold. 
From  1850  to  1890  the  population  increased  170  per  cent. 
From  1850  to  1890  the  communicants  increased  291  per  cent. 

TABLE    IX. 

Unitarian  Societies. 


States  and  Sections. 

1830. 

1840. 

1850. 

i860. 

1870. 

1880. 

1894. 

12 
II 

3 

147 

2 

2 

15 
150 

15 
13 

5 
165 

14 

15 

3 

163 

2 

2 

20 

18 

6 

176 

4 
2 

19 
23 

5 
176 

4 
2 

21 

New  Hampshire 

Vermont 

Massachusetts 

Rhode  Island 

Connecticut . 

31 

9 

190 

6 

2 

Total  New  England. . . 
Western  States 

177 

2 

12 
2 

194 
17 

206 

17 
i  18 
i    5 

199 

26 

26 

3 

226 

62 

37 

3 

229 

76 

27 

3 

259 
138 

Middle         "     

Southern      "     

28 
20 

Out  of  New  England.  . 

16 

36 

40 

55 

102 

106 

186 

Total  in  United  States. 

193 

230 

246 

254 

328 

335 

445 

Appendix. 


695 


TABLE    X. 
Univeksalist  Ministers  in  the  United  States.' 


Sr.\Tt:s. 

1835. 

1840. 

1851. 

i860. 

1870. 

1880. 

1894. 

29 
32 
25 
67 
2 

14 

69 

33 

40 

109 

8 

10 

60 

24 

40 

142 

4 

16 

46 

AO 

49 

23 

41 

133 

8 

18 

44 
23 

?8 

New  liampshire 

27        15 

41        34 

126      107 

5          3 
15        17 

149 

6 

Rliode  Island 

15 

Total  in  New  England. 
Out  of  New  England. . . . 

169 
139 

269 
243 

286 
356 

260     216 

425  1  409 

272 

457 

265 
393 

Total  in  United  States. 

308 

512 

642 

685  1  625 

729 

658 

'  Each  "  Year-Book  "  gives  the  statistics  of  the  previous  year. 

Note. — This  denomination  has  4  colleges,  with  603  students,  and  2  theological 
seminaries,  with  68  students.  They  also  have  a  publishing  house  in  Boston, 
whose  sales  amount  to  about  $50,000  annually. 

TABLE   XL 
Universalist  Parishes  in  the  United  States. 


States. 

1835- 

1840. 

1851. 

J  860. 

1870. 

1880. 

1S94. 

101 

72 
80 
90 
5 
45 

100 
81 
92 

131 

7 

27 

130 

70 

108 

150 

10 

33 

139 

78 
82 
168 
12 
27 

89' 

29 

60, 

105! 

5! 
16 

91 

35 

64 

115 

8 

18 

98 
34 
68 

New  Hampshire 

124 
10 

Connecticut 

16 

Total  in  New  England. 
Out  of  New  England .... 

393 
260 

438| 

415^ 

501 

568 

506 

758 

304, 
6131 

331 
625 

350 
662 

Total  in  United  States. 

653 

853! 

1,069 

1 
1,264!  917! 

956 

1,012 

TABLE    XIL 
The  New  Jerusalem  Church. 


Year. 

Societies. 

Ministers. 

Communicants. 

1S50 

5^ 

93 
154 

42 

54 

89 

119 

1S60 

1,960 

3,994 

7.095 

1880 

i8qo 

696      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


TABLE   XIII. 
The  Roman  Catholic  Church. 


52 
26 

J 

I 

5° 
4 

d 
232 

10 

00 

22 
675 

592 
707 
220 

28 

89 

94 

o' 
00 

1 

0 

i 

1 

t 

Dioceses, Vicar  Apostolics. 

29 

1,245 

58s 

1,302 

322 

35 

65 

".' 
108 

48 

2,519 
1,278 
2,316 

499 
100 

173 

660 
57,611 

58 
3,912 
1,480 
3,966 
1,015 

"5 
297 

467 

1,214 

257,600 

295 

69 
6,817 

1,723 
6,402 
1,170 
2176 
''673 

618 

423,383 
386 

85 
7,631 
2,841 
8,778 
1,711 

3,277 
665,328 

S2l8 

86 
8,512 
3,795 
9,686 
2,122 

840 

3,732 

768,498 

65s 

Chapels  and  stations 

Ecclesiastical  students 

Male  religious  houses.^. . . . 

Female  religious  houses.*.. 

Educational  institutions  for 

young  men  and  ladies. . . 

Parochial  schools 

Pupils  in  parochial  schools. 
Hospitals  and  asylums... 

The  total  estimated  Roman  Catholic  population  in  1800  was  100,000 ;  1830, 
500,000;  1845,  1,071,800;  1850,  1,614,000;  1860,2,789,000;  1870,4,600,000;  1880, 
6,367,330 ;  1890,  8,579,966 ;  1894,  8,806,648.  The  statistics  for  1894  have  been  taken 
from  Sadlier's  "  Catholic  Directory." 

Note. — The  above  statistics  from  1830  to  1880  have  been  collated  from  the 
"Metropolitan  Catholic  Almanac"  and  Sadlier's  "Catholic  Directory."  They 
do  not  entirely  agree  with  F"ather  Hecker's  table  in  the  "Catholic  World,"  June, 
1879.     We  prefer  to  rely  upon  the  "  Year-Books  "  of  the  Church. 

■  From  Sadlier's  "Catholic  Directory"  for  1881,  giving  the  statistics  collected 
in  1880.     This  rule  has  been  observed  throughout  this  table. 

*  Not  tabulated  in  the  "  Year-Book,"  but  collated  from  the  reports  of  the  dio- 
ceses. It  is  difficult  sometimes  to  distinguish  between  the  convents  and  the 
academies. 

*  Monasteries.  ••  That  is,  convents.  ^  Orphan  asylums. 


TABLE  XIV. 

Church   Organizations,  Edifices,  Sittings,  and   Valuation, 
IN  the  United  States,  1850,  i860,  1870,  1S90. 

(From  United  States  Census,  1890.) 


Section  I. — Church  Organizations.' 


Denominations. 

1870. 

1890. 

Evangelical. 
Adventists,  all  kinds 

225 
15,829 

1.757 
43,029 

314 

Baptists,"  all  kinds 

Brethren,  Plymouth 

Appendix. 

TABLE  XIV,  (Continued.) 


697 


Denominations. 


1870. 


Brethren,  River 

Catholic,  Apostolic 

Catholic.  Reformed 

Christadelphians 

Christians^ 

Christian  Missionary  Association. . 

Christian  Union 

Church  of  God  (Winebrennarians)^ 

Congregationalists 

Disciples'' 

Dunkards,*  all  kinds 

Episcopal,  Protestant 

Episcopal,  Arminian 

Evangelical  Association 

Friends,  three  bodies 

Friends  of  tiie  Temple 

German  Evangelical  Synod 

Lutherans,  all  kinds 

Mennonites,'*  all  kinds 

Methodists,  all  kinds 

Moravians 

Presbyterians,  all  kinds 

Reformed,  all  kinds 

Salvation  Army 

Schwenkfelders 

Social  Brethren 

United  Brethren,  all 

Independent  Congregations 

Total 

No  n  -Evangelica  /. 

Church  of  the  New  Jerusalem 

Friends  ( Hicksite) 

German  Evangelical  Protestant. .  . 

Christian  Scientists 

Church  Triumphant 

Communistic  Societies 

Latter  Day  Saints 

Spiritualists 

Unitarians 

Universalists 

Total 

45 


66,701 


90 

154 

201 

52 

.  .  •  . 

221 

12 

18 

32 

189 

856 

95 

334 

331 

421 

719 

956 

i8go. 


151. 172 


1-442 


3.239 


698      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

TABLE  XIV,  (Continued.) 


Denominations. 

1870. 

1890. 

N^on-Chrislian. 
Chinese  Temples 

189 

47 
4 

533 
40 

Eihical  Culturists 

Tews 

Theosophists 

Total 

189 
4,127 

624 

10,231 

14 

12 

I 

Catholic. 

Roman  Catholic 

Greek  Calliolic 

Russian  Catholic,  Orthodox 

Greek  Orthodox. 

Old  Catholic 

4 

Total  Catholic 

4.127 
72,459 

10  262 

Aggregate 

165,297 

*  Church  organizations  never  reported  in  Census  of  United  States  until  1870, 
and  omitted  in  1880. 

2  Very  incomplete  in  1870. 

'  Christians  and  Disciples  combined  in  1870. 

^  Combined  with  the  Baptists  in  1870. 

Section  II. — Church  Edifices. 


Denominations. 


185c. 


Evangelical. 

Adventists,  all 

Baptists,  all  kinds 

Bretliren,  Plymouth 

Brethren,  River 

Catholic,  Apostolic 

Catholic,  Reformed 

Cliristadelphians 

Christians  (&  Disciples  until  1870) 
Christian  Missionary  Association         .  . .  . 

Christian   Union .  .  .  . 

Church  of  God  (Winebrennarians)  (reputed 

Congregationalists 1.725 

Disciples (with 

Dunkards (with 


25 
9.563 


875 


70 
12,150 


068 


ith 


234 


Bap- 
Bap- 


1870. 


13 


140 
962 


822 


Bapt's) 

2,715 
tists) 
tists) 


774 
37,789 
halls 

70 
3 
halls 

4 

1,098 

II 

184 

338 

4.736 

5,324 

1,016 


Appendix. 

TABLE  XIV,  (Continued.) 


699 


Denominations. 

1850. 

i860. 

1870. 

1890. 

Episcopal,  Protestant,  all 

Episcopal,  Arminian 

1.459 

2,145 

2,601 

641 
662 

2,776 
tists) 

21.337 

67 

7,071 

1,613 

937 
596 

5.103 

Evangelical  Association 

Friends,  three  bodies 

39 

1,899 
782 

5 

785 

6,701 

406 

46,138 

114 

12,469 

Friends  of  the  Temple 

1. 231 
(with 
13.302 
34 

4.858 
676 

14 

1. 143 

2,128 

Bap- 

19,883 

49 
6,406 
1,116 

1.368 

German  Evangelical  Synod 

Lutherans 

Mennonites 

Methodists,  all 

Moravians 

Presbyterians,  all 

Reformed,  all 

Salvation  Army 

27 
6 

Sch  wenkfelders 

Social  Brethren 

United  Brethren 

3,405 
112 

Independent  Congregations 

Total 

35.670 

21 

(with 

II 

16 

245 
530 

50,343 

58 
other 

12 

24 

17 

264 

664 

57.940 

61 

Friends] 

""18 

171 

22 

310 

602 

131,400 

88 

213 

52 

7 

halls 

Non-Evangelical. 
Church  of  the  New  Jerusalem. .  . 
Friends  (Hicksite) 

German    Evangelical   Protestant. 
Christian    Scientists 

Church  Triumphant 

Communistic   Societies 

Latter  Day  Saints 

40 

388 

30 

424 

832 

Spiritualists 

Unitarians 

Universalists 

Total 

823 
"36 

1.039 

77 

1,184 
152 

2,074 
47 

Noti-Christian. 
Chinese  Temples 

Ethical  Culturists 

Jews 

301 
I 

Theosophists 

Total 

36 

1,222 

77 
2,550 

152 

3.806 

349 

8,776 
13 

Catholic. 
Roman  Catholic 

Greek         "         

700      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

TABLE  XIV,  (Continued.) 


Denominations. 

1850. 

i860. 

1870. 

1890. 

Russian  Catholic 

23 

I 

Greek  Orthodox 

Old  Catholic 

3 

Total  Catholic 

1,222 

2,550 

3,806 

8,816 

Apprepate 

'37,751 

54.009 

63,082 

142,639 

1  An  error  in  census  for  1850. 


Section  III. — Seating  Capacity  of  Churches. 


Denominations. 


Evangelical. 

Adventists,  all 

Baptists,  all 

Brethren,  Plymouth . 

Brethren,  River 

Catholic,  Apostolic.  . 
Catholic,  Reformed  . 
Christadelphians.. .  . 

Christians 

Christ'n  Miss.  Ass'n. 

Christian  Union 

Churchof  God(Wine- 

brennarians) 

Congregationalists  .  . 

Disciples 

Dunkards 

Episcopal,  Protestant 
Evangelical  Ass'n. .  . 
Friends,  three  bodies. 
Friends  of  the  Temple 
Ger.  Evangel.  Synod. 

Lutherans 

Mennonites 

Methodists,   all 

Moravians 

Presbyterians,  all. .  . 

Reformed,  all 

Salvation  Army 

Schwenkfelders 


1850. 


1870. 


5,250 
3,307,211 


303,780 


(combined 

807,335 

(combined 

(combined 

643,598 

15,479 
286,323 


539.701 
(combined 

4-345,519 

'114.9 

2,089,954 

343,618 


17,120 
4,044,218 


681,016 


34 
4,360 


865 


602 


with  Bap.    before  1 890) 
956,354      1,117,212 


with  Chr'ns 
with  Bap. 
847,296 

269,084 


before  1890) 
before  1 890) 
991,051 

193,796 
224,664 


.  757,637         977,332 

with  Bap.    before  1890) 

6,259,799!  6,528,209 

20,3i6l    25,700 


2,565,949 
484,765 


2,698,244 
658,928 


190,748 

",599-534 

21,163 

22,105 

750 

3,600 

950 

347,697 

3,300 

68,000 

115-530 
1,553,080 
1,609,452 

414,036 
1,360,877 

479,335 

229,650 

1,150 

245,781 

2,205,635 

129,340 

12,863,178 

31,615 
4,038,650 

825,931 

12,055 

1,925 


Appendix. 

TABLE  XIV,  (Continued.) 


701 


DENOMINATI9NS. 

1850. 

i860. 

1870. 

1890. 

Social  Brethren 

United  Brethren.    .  . 
Independent  Cong's. 

4.650 
366,373         372.549 

265,025 
172,062 

8,700 

991.138 

39.345 

Total 

13,173,770    17.276.10-5 

19,112,515!  10.414.2^0 

Non-E'c  'a  ngelica  I. 
Ch.  of  New  Jerusalem 
Friends  (Hicksite).  . 
Ger.  Evanijel.  Prot.  . 
Christian  Scientists.. 
Church  Triumphant. 
Communistic  Soc's. . 
Latter  Day  Saints.. . 

Spiritualists 

Unitarians 

Universalists 

5.600 
(with 

5.150 
10,880 

138,067 
215. "5 

15.395 
other 

5,200 
13,500 

6,275 
138,213 
235,219 

18.755 

Friends) 

8,850 

87,838 

6,970 

155.471 
210,884 

20,810 
72,568 

35.175 

1,500 

100 

10,050 

122,892 

20,450 

165,090 

244,615 

'Total 

374,812        .ir'5.8o2 

488,768 

7  7    26? 

693.250 

139,234 
200 

N^on-Christiati. 
Chinese  Temples.. .  . 
Ethical  Culturists. .  . 
Jews 

18,371 

34  412 

Theosophists 

Total 

Catholic. 
Roman  Catholic. .  . . 
Greek          "        .... 
Russian       "        .... 
Greek  Orthodox. .  .  . 
Old  Catholic 

18,371 
667,863 

34,412 
1,404,437 

73.265 
1,990,514 

139.434 

3.365.754 
5,228 
3.150 

75 
700 

Total 

667,863 

1  xciA  All      T  nnn  CT^      1  in  \  ocil 

Aggregate 

Average    sittings    to 
the  population 

Percent,  of  the  wliole 
sittings  in  the  Evan- 
gelical churches... . 

14.234,825 
61? 
92 

19,128,754 
60,'? 
90 

21,665,062    43,621,841 

56^               69<g 
88  1              91 

'  Error  in  census  for  1850. 


702      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


TABLE  XIV,  (Continued.) 
Section  IV. — Valuation  of  Church  Property. 


Denominations. 


Adventists,  all 

Baptists,  all 

Brethren,  Plymouth. 

Brethren,  River 

Catholic,  Apostolic. . 
Christadelphians. .  .  . 
Christ'ns  (see  Sec.  II) 
Christ'n  Miss.  Ass'n. 
Christian  Union. . .  . 

Church  of  God 

Congregationalists  .  . 

Disciples 

Dunkards 

Episcopal,  Protestant 
Evangelical  Ass'n. 
Friends,  three  bodies 
Friendsof  the  Temple 
Ger.  Evangel.  Synod 

Lutherans 

Mennonites 

Methodists,  all 

Mor'v'ns(seeSec.III) 
Presbyterians,  all...  . 

Reformed,  all 

Salvation  Army 

Schwenkfelders 

Social  Brethren 

United  Brethren.  .  .  . 
Independent  Cong's. 


1850. 


Total. 


Non-Eva7igelical. 
Ch.  of  New  Jerusalem 
Friends  (Hicksite). . 
Ger.  Evangel.  Prot. . 
Christian  Scientists.. 
Church  Triumphant. 
Communistic  Soc's. . 
Latter  Day  Saints.. . 

Spiritualists 

Unitarians 

Universalists 


f II, ICO 

11,173,970 


853,386 


8,001,995 

(see 

(see 

11,375,010 

118,250 

1,713,767 


2,909,711 

(see 
14,825,070 
444,167 

14,571,339 
5,110,060 


18,600 
1,228,500, 


1870. 


$101,170 
21,079,1x4 


2,518,045 


13,327,511 
Section 
Section 

21,665,698 

2,544,507 


5,385,179 
Section 

33,093,371 

227,450 

26,840,525 

6,876,520 


1,374,210 


$306,240 
41,608,198 


6,425.137 


25,069,698 

III) 

III) 

36,514,549 

2,301,650 

3,939,560 


14,917,747 

III) 
69,854,121 

709, 1 00 
53,265,256 
16,134,470 


$1,236,345 
82,392,423 

1,465 

81,350 

66,050 

2,700 

1,775,202 

3,900 

234-450 

643,185 

43,335,437 

12,206,038 

1,362,631 

82,835.418 

4,785,680 

2,879,484 

15,300 

4,614,490 

35.060,354 

643,800 

132,140,179 

681,250 

94,869,097 

18,744,242 

38,150 

12,200 

8,700 

1,819,810'    4.937.583 
1,788,745      1,486,000 


72,354,925  135,033,300  274,654,281 


$115,100 

(with 


39,500 

84,780 

3,280,822 
1,778,316 


$321,200 
other 


41,000 

891,100 

7,500 

4.338,316 

2,856,095 


9-700 
Friends) 


86,900 

656,750 

100,150 

6.282,675 

5,692,325 


Total $5,298,5181  $8,455, 2ii,$i3,688,500  $24,413,095 


527,093,103 


$1,386,455 

1,661,850 

1,187,450 

40,666 

15,000 

106,800 

1,051,791 

573,650 

10,335,100 

8,054,333 


Appendix. 

TABLE  XIV,   (Continued.) 


703 


Denominations. 

1850. 

i860. 

1870. 

1890. 

Non-Christian. 
Chinese  Temples.  . 
Ethical  Culturists.  . 
Jews 

$      ....      1       .... 
418,600^     i,i35,3(X) 

$       .    .. 
$5,155,234 

$62,000 

9.754,275 
600 

Theosophists 

Total 

$418,600  ifti- nc;.  100 

ifti;   r  tc  i-w 

$9,816,875 

$118,069,746 

63,300 

220,000 

5,000 

13.320 

Catholic. 
Roman  Catholic.  .  . 
Greek 

Russian        "         ... 
Greek  Orthodox.  .  . 
Old  Catholic 

$9,256,758 

1 
$26,774,119  160,985,566 

Total 

$9,256, 758  $26,774,1 19  $60,985,566  $118,371,366 

Aggregate 

87,328,801  171,397,932  354,483.581    679,694,439 

TABLE  XV. 
The  Colleges  and  the  Churches.' 


Dknounationai,  Relations.  * 


Baptists,  Regular,  North  and  South 

"        Free-will 

■'        Seventh-day 

Total  Baptist 

Christian  and  Disciple  * 

Congregational 

Congregatiunal  and  Presbyterian  . . . 

Episcopal,  Protestant 

Friend 

Evangelical  Association 

Lutheran 

Methodist  Episcopal,  North 

"  •'  South 

"         Protestant 

"  African 

Total  Methodist 


•Si 


38 


5® 


3.560 

250 
201 

4,011 

2,026 

3,428 

3" 

827 

261 

39 

1,152 


3,107 

l,220 
150 
19 


4,496 


$9,630,765 
SIS1OOO 
222,251 


10,368,016 

3,112,200 

9,704,595 
1,216,000 

3,759.715 

1,255,000 

147,000 

1,388,000 


8,859,600 

1,863,700 

265,000 

62,300 


11,050,600 


704      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


TABLE    XV,    (Continued.) 


DlNOUNATIONAI.  RELATIONS.! 

O 

■0 

if 

a 

li 

1 
"22 

Is 

1^ 

e  g 

1(32 

Presbyterian,  North  and  South 

"              United 

36 

6 
3 
6 

41 

8 

1 
1 
7 
S 

I 

3 

8 

3 
3 

3 

»5 
4 

I 
4 

2,695 

356 
114 

394 

6,306,447 
246,000 
202,500 
319,000 

Reformed  and  Associate 

Total  Presbyterian 

Refor'd  Churches  (Dutch  and  German) 

Swedenborgian  or  New  Church 

Seventh-day  Advent 

3 

I 

M 

I 

I 

24 

6 

I 
I 
6 
5 

3.4S9 

521 
17 

ail 
236 
813 

7,073,947 

1,456,107 

43,000 

147,000 

515,782 

United  Brethren   

Universalist 

5,657,491 

Total  Protestant 

as8 

Sa 

I 
I 

I 

70 

17 

177 

34 

I 
I 

20,91a 
3.564 

63,514,553 
5,350,300 

Roman  Catholic  • 

Mormon 

Jewish .... 

60000 

00,000 

Total  Non-Protestant 

54 
3" 
64 

z 

13 

8 

17 
87 
»5 

36 
213 

41 

3,564 

34,476 

5,883 

5,310,300 
68,824,853 
21,301,934 

Total,  with  denominational  relations 
Non-denominational  * 

Aggregate 

376 

20 

102 

2S4 

30,359 

$90,126,787 

'  A  great  amount  of  research,  review,  and  care  has  been  expended  upon  the 
above  table.  The  author  cannot  claim  for  it  completeness  or  entire  accuracy ; 
but  it  is  a  close  approximation,  the  best  that  conscientious  care  and  extensive 
inquiry  can  make.  The  data  are  chiefly  for  1878,  and  have  been  gathered  from 
the  report  on  Education  by  General  Eaton,  the  omissions  of  that  year  being  sui>- 
plied  from  his  previous  reports,  and  from  the  Year-Books  of  the  Churches.  Con- 
sultations have  also  been  had  with  prominent  educators. 

'  Under  this  term  is  comprised  the  colleges  which  are  closely  associated,  by 
origin,  sympathy,  and  support,  with  particular  Churches.  The  non-denomina- 
tional are  those  designated  in  General  Eaton's  reports  as  "  non-sectarian,"  or  not 
specified  at  all.  Some,  however,  of  those  thus  designated  in  his  reports,  as  Yale, 
Princeton,  Harvard,  and  Columbia,  but  really  Congregational,  Presbyterian, 
Unitarian,  and  Episcopal,  have  been  included  in  the  list  of  denominational  col- 
leges, because  they  are  such  in  all  their  relations.  None  of  the  denominational 
colleges  have  any  sectarian  tests,  and  the  distinction,  sectarian  and  non-sectarian, 
is  often  unfair  and  offensive.    (See  discussion,  pp.  459-466.) 

'Students  in  the  regular  course  for  the  degree  of  A.B. 

*  Chiefly  belonging  to  the  Disciples  or  Campbellites. 

"  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  "  Year-Book,"  for  1881,  gives  79  colleges,  but 
some  are  not  yet  fully  developed. 

•  Comprising  grounds,  buildings,  and  productive  funds. 


Appendix. 


705 


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7o6      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


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y\o      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


TABLE  XX. 

Divorces,  1867  to  1886,  by  States  and  Territories.' 


States  and  Territories. 


Alabama ■  ■ 

Arizona 

Arkansas 

California    

Colorado 

Connecticut 

Dakota 

Delaware. 

District  of  Columbia. 

Florida 

Georgia 

Idaho  

Illinois 

Indiana 

Iowa    

Kansas 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts 

Michigan 

Minnesota 

Mississippi 

Missouri 

Montana 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

New  Hampshire 

New  Jersey 

New  Mexico 

New  York 

North  Carolina 

Ohio 

Oregon 

Pennsylvania 

Rhode  Island   

South   Carolina'' 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Utah 

Vermont 

Virginia 

West  Virginia 

Washington 

Wisconsin 

Wyoming 

In  United  States 


1867. 

1870. 

1880.  ; 

1886. 

Total. 

78 

T14 

300 

662 

5,204 

I 

23 

30 

237 

121 

"3 

464 

646 

6,041 

200 

298 

683 

1,001 

12,118 

4 

30 

250 

451 

3,687 

500 

412 

346 

420 

8,542 

I 

72 

179 

1.087 

25 

1 

5 

9 

289 

28 

39 

66 

75 

1,105 

32 

57 

149 

232 

2,128 

127 

118 

253 

325 

3,959 

12 

9 

23 

53 

368 

1,071 

1,178 

2,139 

2,606 

36,072 

1, 096 

1,170 

I1423 

1.655 

25,193 

504 

570 

1,001 

1,127 

16,564 

76 

158 

442 

817 

7,191 

292 

368 

567 

757 

10,248 

53 

30 

109 

197 

1,697 

408 

357 

600 

374 

8,412 

83 

84 

128 

165 

2.185 

318 

404 

595 

565 

9,853 

449 

554 

1,149 

1^339 

18,433 

52 

83 

228 

379 

3,623 

49 

85 

429 

504 

5,040 

362 

491 

930 

1,217 

15,278 

17 

14 

38 

130 

822 

10 

30 

198 

436 

3,034 

37 

28 

64 

44 

1,128 

i:,6 

163 

352 

381 

4,979 

60 

89 

135 

286 

2,642 

I 

I 

8 

40 

255 

77' 

731 

834 

1,006 

15,355 

21 

41 

84 

163 

1,338 

901 

992 

ii553 

1,889 

26,367 

81 

64 

174 

249 

2,6og 

575 

623 

951 

1,156 

16,020 

195 

202 

274 

257 

4,462 

163 

9,625 

'387 

284 

680 

801 

91 

163 

786 

1,326 

11,472 

88 

82 

"5 

119 

4,078 

157 

164 

138 

129 

3,238 

62 

164 

238 

2,635 

20 

15 

65 

128 

996 

72 
400 

80 

120 

217 

2,555 

396 

535 

700 

9,988 

13 

21 

46 

9.937 

10,962 

19,663 

25,535 

328,716 

Note.— It  should  be  said  that  the  statistics  for  some  counties  are  niissing  and 
some  destroyed,  but  not  enough  to  aflfect  seriously  the  completeness  and  accuracy 
of  the  table.  The  totals  for  each  year  present  a  serious  problem,  which  shouia 
engage  the  attention  of  the  best  minds. 

'  From  Report  of  United  States  Commissioner  of  Labor,  on  Divorces,  ibKg- 

'  No  divorce  law  except  1872  to  1878. 


Ari'ENDIX. 


711 


vj       t-.<»  "  S    O    «  >0    O    «    t;--0    «    «  00   t-.\0    M    -    O 

"«   ^o  >d  'd  >o  t^oo'  co'  o  d  d  6  -  •"  N  "  "^  •;>  !J"2 

^J """""" 

IJ;  ;j  5  5  tfi  m  ■«•;«■■«■««■«■  mo  m  •*  •*■  ■«■   • 


?  "5     M     -     «"    M     M     W     M     W     M     M     «     M    M     «    M    M     M     1 


r.  t-  p,  «  m  mg- o  o  r-o  o  ,-J;'«^  ^  -  jr>^ 
•S     S  m  &  0-0  N  -  n  1-  O  -  a  t^  moo_  r^ 


OT    O  C^  f^  C^ 

-     -^  -^ 

O^  hT  c  vC  «   r^  r^  C'  in  r^  t^  ^ 
m  m  »^  mvo  c^  1^  t^oo  o  o*  0 


o  o  cm^o  m"  MOO  m  m-o  ^^O"""?"? 
M  0-0  t-.  m  «  m^5  o  a;  t;  *<»  ",  l^.^i "t  "0 
n"  fo  «^  ci  d  «"  "*<>"  "^  dco"  M  pT  cT  t^vo  *1^  ,5J 


rt  M'"iH"wM"Mercrcr«NMfnc*m 


00   o  Pv 

noo    O 

d>M  ^  r'^  f;-^,  o_  ",  °,  "^  ^  '^°^- 

-^so  -^00  rC  f^^  ^  (^vo  vo  ^'  d 

'(»^  M*  pL  01  0^00  *o^  c5_  q_  t;  '<^  c  -^  O.  -^  m  »-, 

m  tC  m  r^  N  -f  <>oo  *  d  i^  m  tC  1^  ;»^  -■ 

...     —  o  -Tp  t-i  vo  p^  i^  r^oo  p» 

invc  p*  p^  p^oo  o^  O"  c 


c 

0 

.^ 

•D 
5I 

a 
u 

> 

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0 

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00 

.11. 

,JS 

" 

f:  F 

U  n 

0 

0 

10  tC  ir. 
r>.  «  •-  00 


00    t^  M   «   O   C' 
0_  O    ■*  <^  t^OO  CO 

•*  IT  _     __ 

\6  '<?oo  c^oo 


-    -      ■    —   00 

,*0  00 

t  ^ 
r^  CO  (^  «   M  «   r*^ 


nJ3   O  ^^ 


1) 


t£ 


^   O   '-'    ^  t^co    rl    I 


■  ^  li^  10 
roo  r*  m  10 


'o  oi  r^  ct  O  6  f*!  o*co 
a«~6  >>>  Vo  M  CT>oo  00  O  00  <^- 1^  10  M  "^^  w^  T  ^ 

So-  o^  0-00  5  o  o  ^  ^  -roo^  t;^,*",",  *::  °,  t' 

«'  -f -d  t^  t>  r?0O    O'tCtCtCcfl^-'^-"''  '^^ 


O-  r*^  r^  m\C 
-     -WW    " 

„    .-    u-,00 


)  00 


^  .^  m  •*  M  \o  p^  -_ 

_-  M  •*■  p^  o-co  p-oo  00  o 

moo  •-  o»  -^-o  o  0^0^  "  ' 
"^  §  o'  f^  o'  -oo'-o  ^^'  N 
J  -S  M  "o-  ^  5  «  mvS.  m  ^  ",^_ 

o'^-d'd-dM'^f^d  rnod  m  o  w  «  m  d  fr-  •!  00  « 

^  S  £  m  m  m  mvo  t~  i^  p^oo  t«.  p^  t^  t^oo  00  o  c  o 


-d  4,-  =  °-= 
<»  -5  >  —  -5  3 


p*  p»  ON  «  Q  o  moo  ■«•  O  p-  <5  t^^  t^  N  >o  ►>  « 
v^vdS  lip^roNOO  mvo  >o^  0_  ",^,  O'os^  i-_^^_  vo^  -r 
^  "^  -f  w>d'  tC  ro  -f  cf  o'  d  «'  «■  d'  jf^  ^  '^- -  S  £:  5r 

o-  p.  p^  «  m  o<  i~.oo  0M1  *  -- >o  ;j-  >- ^  o  i~-  0 
-    -\o-i-i»iPi«ro-«-  mvo  m  -J-  •*  -i^vo  m  mo  -  r; 


III  111 
3  5  r  o  •"  " 
S  «-£  E  S  u 
•-  r-i  c-r  =  i: 

«  "  5  ^4-^ 


s  "2  =  e  o  t: 
.r:  "i:  o  ^y  ^ 

•  —    "^  -T!    "^     C     -. 


^^   iJ 


m  ov  Ov  m  mvo  00  f^  «  moo  vc  vo  «  O  o- 1^  ^ 

-----    -  --vo    O    Pi    mrn  00    -"J-P^M    ft-  f^ 

10   O-  O   f^  O   ^n  r^.  f^,  C^  ^  r^ 
r^\c  «  vo^otT  ►-"  p-  r?  t>oo  ■^oo  o 

)  w    P--0    o^  trt  m 

^-    -   >,  -•  ^  .-w  -■  •^  ovp^mmoo 
^  &,  -^oo  00  d  fn  «  ^  f^vp  cfoo  d.o»  ^  p-vo  ^  K  o- 


p^  M    O  -0_vo    O^ 

_  _   00    nT  -- 

-t^  d  N  f*l  w   i^-o   pv  m  m  c-  O   ovo   P;  "^^ 
^vo  ^^  m  mvo  v5  t^"?*  F*^  p^vo  p.  p^oo  00  o*  ov 


".2  — 


r^  pN  p^  p^  P.00  CO  00 


-t  u^vo   p^oo   ^  ( 


OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOQOOCOCO 


=    3 

o  -re  2  g  c 
^  I.  «•=  o-j 

—     [I]    -  ^    u  — 

G  :>  ^  —  '■ 


712      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


TABLE   XXII. 

Consumption  of  Liquors  in  the  United  States.' 


Distilled  Spirits, 

Malt  Liquors, 

Year. 

Foreign  Wines. 

Foreign  and 

Foreign  and 

Domestic. 

Domestic. 

Gallons. 

Gallons. 

Gallons. 

l8io 

1,553,088 

31,725,417 

5,411,058 

1820 

1,754.322 

70,000,000^ 

1830 

2,893,689 

77,196,120^ 

1840 

4,748,362 

43,060,884 

23,310,843 

1850 

6,094,622 

51,833,473 

36,563,009 

i860 

9,199-133 

89,968,651 

101,346,669 

1870 

9,165,549 

79,895,708 

204,756,156 

Per  Capita. 


'  From  official  sources  chiefly. 

^  From  "Puritan  Recorder." 

3  From  old  "  American  Cyclopedia." 


Appendix. 


713 


o  >,■" 

00   ^   7, 

Tt     O    ^5 

.5  jj  ? 
1-3  J? 

t3    O    o 


o  S 


o      _ 


G 


a 


o  _ 

ti  c  '*- 
— .  4j  rt 

Oh  i> 

.-    ^-    - 

O    („    , 

'5  '^'^ 
5  o  >> 
E  c)  ij 

c 
'^0  . 

u         O 

o  co'^ 
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'^  '*-  t^  = 

O    !>    K 
0)    C    5 

•-  .2  ^ 


5i2 .. .. 


(/] 


&- 


u 


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0)  a 


0)  u 


C   w 


u 


46 


tants 
ne 
tant 
ent. 

0 

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habi 

to  0 
rotes 
dher 

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tion 
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^  =  ".5  u 

c  u  E  C-- 


gS-5 


■"I        C   =    ?■    >-i 

rt  S  .-"  S«s 
c«fc-r-i<;  0 


714      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


TABLE    XXIV. 

Rates  of  Wages  in  the   United  States  for  52  Years,  by 
Industries,  and  a  General  Average  of  All  Industries. 


.5 

-a 

0 

V 

-a 

u 

U.3 

h  rt 

r- 

c 

< 

■3  V 

OS'S 

M 

•"a 

(A 

0 

n  [A 

^H 

c  = 

£0 

« 

^IcS 

^ 

a 

<^ 

1840. 

.1   85.0 

100. 0 

86.0 

59-1 

84.6 

89.5 

80.4 

87.7 

184I. 

•   85.0 

100.0 

80.6 

56.3 

78.9 

90.1 

87.4 

88.0 

1842. 

.   86.2 

100. 0 

87-5 

61.5 

94-2 

91 .2 

79-2 

87.1 

1843. 

.   84.7 

100  0 

87.6 

70.7 

85.1 

90.6 

71.8 

86.6 

1844. 

.   85.0 

100. 0 

85.7 

76.0 

88.5 

89.0 

76.5 

86.5 

1845. 

.   86.6 

100. 0 

86.6 

89.9 

83.3 

89.6 

80.2 

86.8 

1846. 

.   88.9 

100. 0 

90.8 

92.8 

85.7 

89.9 

97.8 

89.3 

1847. 

92.6 

100. 0 

91.9 

93.8 

89.2 

92.0 

85.9 

90.8 

1848 

92.0 

100. 0 

93-4 

100.7 

89.4 

91.8 

82.9 

91.4 

1849. 

.   89.6 

100. 0 

94-5 

97.4 

91. 5 

90.6 

79.2 

92.5 

1850 

86.2 

100.0 

93-9 

91.8 

88.8 

92.5 

93-6 

92.7 

185I 

•   87-9 

100.0 

87.7 

91.3 

88.5 

91.5 

93-8 

90.4 

1852 

.   88.7 

100. 0 

87.9 

90.7 

89.9 

■  90.0 

96.1 

90.8 

1853 

90.6 

100.0 

90.4 

95-3 

89.9 

Z-i 

99.7 

91.8 

1854 

•   93-4 

100.0 

94-5 

99.0 

95.8 

96.8 

103.7 

95-8 

1855 

•   95-7 

100.0 

98.7 

100. 0 

98.6 

97-5 

98.8 

98.0 

1856 

.   96.5 

100.0 

101 .2 

96-3 

100,1 

96.9 

103.1 

99-2 

1857 

.   98.7 

100. 0 

102.0 

90  8 

101.7 

96.7 

103.3 

99.9 

1858 

.   95.8 

100.0 

96.9 

95-2 

100.3 

97.0 

101 .9 

98.5 

1859 

.  100.8 

100.0 

98.6 

95-5 

98.4 

98.6 

100.9 

99-1 

i860 

.  100. 0 

100. 0 

100. 0 

100. 0 

100. 0 

100. 0 

100.0 

100. 0 

i85i 

.  100.4 

100. 0 

98.9 

103.6 

102.2 

103.3 

90.7 

100.8 

1862 

.  106.3 

169.9 

99-2 

107.2 

102.8 

101.4 

91.5 

102.9 

1863 

•  119-7 

169.9 

106.0 

131.8 

106.5 

103.0 

109.5 

110.5 

1864 

•  143-7 

169.9 

122.3 

144.6 

121. 3 

111.7 

135.7 

125.6 

1865 

.  161. I 

169.9 

134-7 

153.2 

144.9 

133-0 

146.8 

143. 1 

1866 

.  170.0 

169.9 

153.2 

154.2 

148.0 

142.1 

152.5 

152.4 

1867 

.  185. I 

169.9 

160.4 

157. 1 

151.2 

150.7 

159.3 

157.6 

1868 

-  185. 5 

169.9 

160.9 

163.7 

153.6 

154-2 

163.8 

159.2 

1869 

.  189.2 

179-9 

161. 8 

165.0 

156.3 

157-2 

169.8 

162.0 

1870 

•  185-5 

179.9 

160.6 

169.0 

157. 1 

164.8 

168.8 

162.2 

1871 

.  182.7 

179.9 

165-3 

168.1 

155.6 

164.4 

169.9 

163.6 

1872 

•  183-3 

179-9 

169.0 

172.6 

157.7 

164.1 

173.0 

166.0 

1873 

-  179-4 

179.9 

167.2 

177.7 

160.2 

165-3 

171. 3 

167.1 

1874 

.  178. I 

179  9 

155.8 

179.5 

157.2 

154-5 

166.7 

161.5 

1875 

.  169.2 

179-9 

150.3 

171.8 

154.2 

157-4 

161.3 

158.4 

1876 

.  158.6 

179.9 

142.1 

173.0 

149. 1 

147-4 

153 -8 

152.5 

1877 

•  146.3 

179.9 

135-5 

176.8 

143  8 

141. 9 

1389 

144.9 

1878 

.  140.7 

179.9 

135-3 

177.9 

140.6 

136.3 

137-4 

142.5 

1879 

•  137-9 

179.9 

136.2 

175.4 

134.6 

137-9 

129.6 

139.9 

1880 

•  142.7 

202.4 

139-9 

173.3 

134.3 

143-8 

128.7 

141-5 

1881 

.  160. I 

202.4 

144-8 

176,8 

139.0 

148.9 

136.1 

146.5 

1882 

•  165 . I 

202.4 

146.8 

175.3 

144.0 

146.0 

149.5 

149.9 

1883 

.  166.0 

202.4 

146.5 

175.4 

147.2 

149.4 

147.4 

152.7 

1884 

..  168.5 

202.4 

146.6 

169.9 

147.0 

147.2 

150.1 

152.7 

1885 

..1  169.9 

202.4 

143-5 

170.3 

143.0 

15s -I 

150.4 

150.7 

Appendix. 


715 


TABLE  XXIV,  (Continued.) 


te 

iSg 

0 

■A 

^ 

OS 

> 

is 

C  B 

B 

2 

u 

E 

3 

c 

1 

'5 

c 

0) 

c 
0 

w 

B 

0  IS 
v.? 

II 

1886.. 

170.3 

202.4 

147.0 

169.6 

139.6 

146.5 

152-5 

150-9 

1887.. 

170.1 

202.4 

150.6 

170.9 

143-3 

145.6 

153-1 

153-7 

1888.. 

170.9 

202.4 

153-7 

170.6 

144.6 

149.1 

156.8 

155-4 

1889.. 

170. 1 

202.4 

157-0 

175-1 

146.2 

148-3 

156.9 

156.7 

i8go. . 

172.7 

202.4 

159-7 

176.7 

148.0 

147-0 

161.9 

158-9 

1891.. 

172-5 

202.4 

165.1 

177.9 

148.6 

146.4 

165.2 

160.7 

TABLE  XXV. 
The  Relative  Purchasing  Power  of  Wages  in  the  United 
States  (1840-1891)   for  All  Articles  Grouped  by  Differ- 
ent Methods. 


-a  ,'.J.T3 

■a  '  ^  • 

-a  .•  .J.'O 

■a 

iL^  i 

'0. 

B 

average 

0  impoi 

1  expend 
onsidere 

average 
0     impoi 
ising  68. 
total  ex 

"5. 
6 

.   average 
to     impot 
in  expend 
considere 

1 
5 

% 

6  cji2 
-.E  2 

.-•".::  u 

..  -u  iw. 

K 

articles 
irdiiig 
e,  certa 
5  being 
orm. 

articles 
rding 
e,  comp 
cent.  0 
litiire. 

ui 

•o-o 

articles 
rding 
e,  certa; 
5  lieing 
irm . 

[0 

rding 
e,  conip 
cent.  0 
liture. 

< 

"    In 

u   0   u  >*- 

00     ^ 

< 

h 

00       J 

=2    4* 

—  0  c  >-  c 

> 

All 

acc< 
tan 
tun 
uni 

< 

0   C   I-    B 

1840.. 

116. 8 

98-5 

97-7 

1866 

191. 0 

160.2 

187.7 

184I . . 

115.8 

98.7 

98.1 

1867 

172.2 

145.2 

165.8 

1842.. 

107.8 

93-2 

90.1 

1868 

160.5 

150-7 

173.9 

1843.- 

loi.s 

89.3 

84.3 

1869 

-             153.5 

135-9 

152.3 

1844.. 

101.9 

89.8 

85.0 

1870 

142.3 

130.4 

144.4 

1845.. 

102.8 

92.1 

88.2 

1871 

136.0 

124.8 

136.1 

1846. . 

106.4 

96.7 

95-2 

1872 

138.8 

122.2 

132-4 

1847- . 

106.5 

96.7 

95-2 

1873 

137-5 

119.9 

129.0 

1848.. 

101.4 

92.0 

88.3 

1874 

133-0 

120.5 

129.9 

1849. . 

98.7 

88.9 

83-5 

1875 

127.6 

119.8 

128.9 

1850. . 

102.3 

92.6 

89.2 

1876 

118.2 

115.5 

122.6 

1851.. 

105.9 

99.1 

98.6 

1877 

no. 9 

109.4 

113. 6 

1852.. 

102.7 

98.5 

97-9 

1878 

101.3 

103.  I 

104.6 

1853- - 

109. 1 

103.4 

105.0 

1879 

96.6 

96.6 

95.0 

1854- . 

112.9 

103.4 

105.0 

1880 

106.9 

103.4 

104.9 

1855.. 

113.1 

106.3 

109.2 

1881 

105.7 

105.8 

108.4 

1856.. 

113. 2 

108.5 

112.3 

1882 

108.5 

106.3 

109.1 

1857.. 

112. 5 

109.6 

114.0 

1883 

106.0 

104. 5 

106.6 

1858.. 

101.8 

109.1 

113.2 

1884 

99-4 

101.8 

102.6 

1859.. 

100.2 

102.0 

102.9 

1885 

93-0 

95.4 

93.3 

i860.. 

100. 0 

100.0 

100.0 

1886 

91.9 

95.5 

93-4 

1861.. 

100.6 

95-9 

94.1 

1887 

92.6 

96.2 

94-5 

1862.. 

117.8 

102.8 

104.1 

1888 

94.2 

97.4 

96.2 

1863.. 

148.6 

122. 1 

132.2 

1889 

94.2 

99.0 

98-S 

1864.. 

190.5 

149-4 

172.1 

1890 

92-3 

95.7 

93-7 

1865. . 

216.8 

190.7 

232.2 

1891 

92.2 

96.2 

94.4 

THE   BRITISH    ISLANDS. 

TABLES    XXVI    to    XXXII. 


Appendix. 
THE  BRITISH  ISLANDS. 


719 


TABLE   XXVI. 
The  Protestant  Churches. 


1880. 

1893. 

Denominations. 

u 

0 

<"    '  a 
x:  a  0 

si 

11 

0 

s 

u  0 
m    ,  rt 

;2 

11 

Ji 

Ch.  of  England: 
Eng.  and  W .  . 

Scotland 

Ireland 

The  Colonies. 

23,000 

232 

1,800 

2,700 

226 

27,000 

266 

1,700 

4,000 

14,573 
268 

1,500 

13,750,000 
604,984 
600,000 

Total 

Baptist : 

England 

Wales 

Scotland 

Ireland 

Channel  Isl..  . 
Not  reporting. 

27.732 

1,360 

344 

79 

17 

226 
1.893 

534 
88 
30 

203,304 

67.859 

9.234 

1,251 

32,966 

1,198 

471 
96 

23 
20 
90 

16,341 

1,611 

749 

104 

26 

5 

330 

14,954,984 

208,728 

98,122 

13,208 

2,200 

249 
20,000 

Total 

Congregational : 
Eng.'and  W.  . 

Scotland 

Ireland 

1,800 

2,572 

121 
20 

2,545 

3,277 

io5 

30 

281,648 
>   360,000 

1,898 
2,730 

2,825 
4.842 

342,507 

375.000 

Total 

Catholic  Apost. . 
Huntingd'n  Con. 

Friends 

Moravians 

New  Jerusalem . 
Unitarians 

Presbyterian: 
Est.Ch.ofScot. 
FreeCh.  Scot. 
United 

2,713 
265 

357 

1.530 

1,060 

600 

3.413 

19 
37 

327 
38 
64 

370 

1,420 

1.043 

593 

360,000 

14,500 
5,604 
4.987 

515.786 
300,000 
183,221 

2,730 

351 
350 

1,660 

1.273 

615 

4,842 

80 

34 

340 

50 

75 

345 

1,699 

1,097 

572 

375,000 

16,102 
5,660 
6,063 

599.531 
343.015 
187,075 

720      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

TABLE  XXVI,  (Continued.) 


1880.                   1 

1893. 

c 

c 

c 

Denominations. 

»  o-s 

,  O-S 

.sssf 

S    3 

D    '/  M 

S§ 

E? 

P 

^ 

U 

i-  x  bo 

1^ 

Jd 

J3  rt  0 

"  0 

-ii 

J=   rt  0 

£  ° 

o 

U(UU 

^0 

0 

UChO 

So 

Pre.sb.{Contin'd): 

Ch.  in  Ireland. 

632 

674 

104,769 

644 

559 

103,017 

Ch.in  England 

258 

276 

54,135 

290 

66,774 

Ref.Syn.,Irel'd 

31 

40 

4,438 

Ref.  Syn.,Scot. 

8 

13 

1,197 

"  Orig.Seced." 

32 

40 

5,450 

.... 

Total 

4,151 

4.099 

1,168,996 

4,192 

4.217 

1,299,412 

Officers.  Outp'ts. 

Soldiers. 

Salvation  Army. 

11,103     4,341 

500,000 

Bodies  of  Methodists. 


o  S; 


1880. 

Wesleyans. 


New  Connection. 

Primitive 

United  Free  Chs. 
Reform  Union. . . 
Bible  Christians. 
Irish  Conference. 
Calvinistic 


6,859 

437 
4,302 
1,238 
2,256 

577 

1,319 


2,158 
170 

1,142 

370 

18 

182 

244 
920 


Total. 


1894. 

Wesleyans 

New  Connection. 

Primitive 

United  Free  Chs. 
Reform  Union..  . 
Bible  Christians. 
Independents.. .  . 
Irish  Conference. 
Calvinistic 


16,988 

7,870 
543 
5,874 
1,318 
198 
624 
137 

1,479 


5,204 

2,107 
204 

1,115 

349 

20 

203 

337 

230 

1,065 


15,100 
1,135 

14.507 

3,165 

605 

1,453 
1,800 


401,141 
20,950 

182,691 

64,712 

7,360 

20,043 

25,186 

118,251 


26,547 
3,696 

6,580 
368 
394 


787,143 

76,457 

372,570 

181,218 

10,078 

35,357 


155,159 


37,765 

16,000 

4,184 

16,567 

3,009 

501 

1,490 


840,334 

433,350 
30,526 

195,750 

68,017 

7,6ri 

26,336 

6,773 
26,219 
133,648 


37-585 


229 
232 
000 
653 
540 
690 

449 
706 

835 


1,617,982 

955,518 
85,634 
456,331 
205,148 
21,041 
41,086 
22,861 


132,004 


Total 18,043:    5,63041,751  928,23054,334  1,919,623 


Appendix. 


721 


TABLE  XXVII. 

Dissenters  in  England  and  Wales." 

In  1699 214,000,    or    4. 18  per  cent,  of  the  population. 

In  1845 1,315,000,    or    8.0B  " 

In  1851 1,958,000,'^  or  10.89  " 

In  1861 3,090,000,''  or  15.36 

In  1866 3,686,000,-  or  17.38  " 

In  1876 4,500,000,-  or  20.00  " 

In  1 891 12,500,000,    or  43.00  " 


"In  1876,  in  Wales,  the  Dissenters  constituted  the  majority  of 
the  population  ;  in  six  counties  they  were  one  third  of  the  whole 
population  ;  in  London  one  tenth." 

According  to  the  above  figures  the  increase  of  the  whole  popula- 
tion, from  1851  to  1876,  was  35  percent. ;  but  the  Dissenting  popula- 
tion increased  130  per  cent. 


•  "  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,"  ninth  edition,  vol.  viii,  pp.  246,  247. 

'  The  above  statistics  are  not  altogether  satisfactory.  When  the  religious  cen- 
sus of  Great  Britain  was  taken,  in  1851,  the  returns  showed  3,773,474  in  attend- 
ance upon  public  worship  in  the  Church  of  England  congregations,  to  3,487,558 
in  the  Dissenting  Chapels,  and  the  Church  of  England  places  of  worship  were 
14,077  to  20,390  of  the  Dissenters.  In  the  last  forty  years,  according  to  all  ac- 
counts, the  Dissenters  have  gained  more  than  the  Established  Church. 


TABLE  XXViri. 
Romanism  in  the  British  Isles. 


England  and 
Wales. 

Scotland. 

Ireland. 

Total  British  Isles. 

0* 

M 

I 

i 

d 
87 

. 
0 

3 

3 

'99 

203 
17 

. 
0 

00 

6 

6 

276 

279 
II 
24 

o" 

i- 

1 

~8 

29 

3.450 

2,371 
176 
256 

o" 

00 

44 
46 

S,o6i 

3,695 
233 
442 

1 

1 

Dioceses 

Abp.  and  Bishops. 
Priests 

s6o 

12 
38 

13 

1,528 
1,1st 

6g 
216 

14 

16 

1,942 

1,264 

87 

285 

28 

28 

2.552 

2,205 
4' 
160 

28 

29 

3.334 

2,341 
,64 
209 

28 

28 

3.38s 

2,852 

53 
T9S 

48 

SI 

5,668 

3,914 
274 

565 

48 

52 

6,108 

3,924 
309 
627 

Churches,  chapels, 

etc 

Convents  of  men. . 
"           women 

722      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


TABLE  XXIX. 
Romanism,  Protestantism,  and  the  Population  in  Ireland.' 


1834 

1861 

1871 

1891 

Religious  Bodies. 

i 

3 

Q. 
0 

3 
0 

'm  . 

c 
:  0 

"3 
a 

0 
eu 

3 
0 
'So  . 

II 

c 
<u.2 

S3| 

"3 
0. 
0 

a 

0 

■&   . 
'-?  c 
.^•2 

c 
U.2 

0  §. 
xj  <^ 

o.ii 
^  2 

1 

0 

i 

'So  . 
■-?  c 
^•2 

c 
U.2 

^1 
Pu  S 

Roman  Catholics 

Established  Church. . 
Other  Prot.  Churches 

6,436,066 
853,106 
664,880 

80.9 
10.7 
8.4 

4,505,265 
693,357 
600,245 

77-9 
II. 8 
10.3 

4,141,933 
683,295 
577.531 

76.7 
12.6 

10.7 

3,547,307 
602,300 
554,479 

75-4 
13-2 
II. 4 

Total  Population . . 

7,954,052 

100. 0 

5,798,867 

100. 0  5,402,759 

100. 0 

4,704,086 

100. 0 

*  English  official  sources. 

TABLE  XXX. 

Romanism  and  the  Population  in  England  and  Wales. 


1558-1603. 

1699 

1767 

1780 

1845 

1851 

1854 

1861 

1866 

i8qi , 


Number  of 

Per  cent,  of  the 

Roman  Catholics. 

whole  Population. 

33-33 

27,696 

0.50 

68,000 

1. 00 

69,400 

0.90 

284,300 

1.70 

'758,800 

4.22 

916,600 

4.94 

V        927,500 

4.61 

982,000 

4.62 

2 1, 500,000 

5-OI 

Note. — The   above  data  have  been  taken  chiefly  from  the  "  Encyclopasdia 
Britannica,"  ninth  edition,  vol.  viii,  pp.  246,  247. 

1  This  increase  followed  the  Potato  Famine  in  Ireland  of  1846-47 
•  "Statesman's  Year-Book." 

TABLE  XXXI. 
Roman  Catholics  in  England,  Wales,  and  Ireland. 


Years. 

Roman 
Catholic  Population. 

Per  cent,  of  the 
whole  Population. 

1841      

6,958,737 
6,137.749 
5,141,933 
5,047-307 

28.8 

1851           

25.1 

1871           

18.2 

1891 

14.9 

Appendix. 


723 


TABLE   XXXII. 

Alcoholic  Liquors  Consumed  in  the  British  Isles. 


Year 

Wine. 

Spirits. 

Beer. 

iSm 

Gallons. 

6,794,713 

10,693,071 

16,144,838 

18,660,846 

15,644,757 
13,168,944 
14,164,771 

Gallons. 
28,736,737 
24,691,852 
33,090,249 
41,438,083 
37,025,979 
34,588,832 
37,727,823 

Gallons. 
639,323,967 

1861 

775,171,584 

1871 

995,746,374 

1876 

1881 

1,113,448,754 
970,788,564 

1886 

976,828,104 

1893 

1,137,396,600 

Quantity,  Per  Capita. 


1851 
1861 
1871 
1876 
1881 
1886 
1893 


Gallons. 

Gallons 

0.23 

1.05 

0.37 

0.95 

0.51 

1.06 

0.57 

1.26 

0.44 

1.05 

0.36 

0.94 

0.36 

0.98 

Gallons. 
22.9 
26  9 
31  .2 
34-6 
27-5 
26.6 
29.6 


Total  Yearly  Cost. 


1851 
1861 
1871 
1876 
1881 
1886 
1893 


Total  Yearly  Cost. 
£76,868,328 
94,942,107 
125,586,902 
147,288,759 
127,074,400 
122,905,780 
140,806,262 


Per  Capita  Cost. 
$13.00 
14.50 
16.50 
21.26 
18.00 

17-75 
17.50 


Note. — The  cost  J^er  capita,  in  1890,  was  $17.0 
$17.88. 


in   1891,  $18.15;   in   1892, 


ECUMENICAL   STATISTICS. 

TABLES     XXXIII     to     LII. 


Appendix. 


727 


ECUMENICAL  STATISTICS. 


TABLE    XXXIII. 
The  Anglican  Communion'  in  the  Whole  World. 


Countries. 


Europe: 

England  and  Wales.  .  .  . 

Scotland 

Ireland 

Gibraltar,  etc 

Continental  chaplaincies  of 
the  Prot.  Epis.Ch.  of  U.S 


Total  Europe. 


America: 

United  States 

British  North  America. .  .  . 
West  Indies  and  otlier  isles 

Mexico 

South  America 


Total  America. 


Asia 

Africa 

Australasia  &  Polynesia. 


Aggregate *io8 


I860. 


J5  c 


28 

7 

12 

I 


49 


43 
10} 

3f 


17,000 

158 
1,456 


57 


18,614 

2,073 

873 


2,947 

52 
II 


1880. 


55 


64 
U7 

}    6 


23,000 

232 

1,800 

60 


25,og 


3,400 
829 
220 

64 

66 


4,519 

659 
300 
680 


21,624    194  31,256    214  38,032 


I- 


56 


104 

16 

17 
21 


U 


23,000 

281 

1,700 

95 


25,086 


4,151 

1.047 

289 

6 

4 


5,497 

950 

480 

1,019 


■  Including  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  and  its  mis- 
sions. Impossible  to  obtain  the  statistics  of  the  communicants  except  of  the 
latter  Church.  The  above  statistics  have  been  gathered  from  the  "  Kalendar  of  the 
English  Church,"  the  "Church  Almanac,"  United  States,  and  from  "  Whitaker's 
(London)  Almanac."  Those  for  i860  were  taken  from  Professor  Schem's  "  Amer- 
ican Ecclesiastical  Year-Book"  for  i860.  '  Incomplete. 


728      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


TABLE  XXXIV. 
Baptists'  in  the  Whole  World. 


1860.1 

1880.8 

CoinmuBs. 

Communi- 
cants. 

Church's. 

Minis- 
ters. 

Communi- 
cants. 

America  : 

United  States 

1,135,868 
35.618 
36,250 

28,531 
880 

157 
8 

3 

18,331 

523 

91 

3 

2 

2,452,878 

76,541 

28,352 

150 

214 

British  North  America. . . . 
West  Indies,  Bahamas,  etc. 
Mexico 

South  America 

Total  America 

Europe : 
British  Islands 

1,207,736 

200,000 

938 

5,944 

4,655 

20 

29,579 

2,545 

9 

91 

332 

4 

20 

3 
16 

18,950 

1,800 
12 

85 
172 

3 
16 

3 
13 

2,558,135 

281,648 

1,191 

15,827 

21,581 

140 

420 

310 

5,833 

France  and  Holland 

Germany  and  Switzerland. 
Sweden,  Norway,  Denmark 

Spain 

Italy 

Austria,  Greece,  Turkey  . . 
Russia,  Poland,  Finland . . , 

Total  Europe 

Asia: 

India,  Farth.  India,  Ceylon. 
China 

211,557 

16,858 
30 

3,020 

497 

21 

2 

2,104 

246 
30 
12 

326,95c 

40,169 

I  822 

laoan 

76 

Total  Asia 

16,888 

1,384 
6,000 

520 

60 

143 

288 

44 
95 

42,067 

3.603 
7,918 

Africa 

Australasia 

Apprepate 

1.443.565 

33,322 

21,481 

2,938,673 

'  All  bodies  bearing  the  name  Baptist. 

'  The  statistics  for  i860  are  chiefly  from  the  "  American  Ecclesiastical  Year- 
Book  "  of  Professor  Schem,  for  i860. 

'  The  statistics  for  1880  are  chiefly  from  the  "  Baptist  Year-Book,"  for  t88i, 
adding  the  Free-Will  Baptists  in  the  British  Provinces,  and  a  few  other  ad- 
ditions. 


ArricNDix. 


729 


TABLE    XXXV.' 
Baptists,  1893. 


Countries. 


d 

x 

u 

ned 
ters 

rted 
jers 

3 

0 

OS 

Repo 
Mem 

North  America: 

Canada:    Ontario,  Quebec,  Manitoba, 

and  Northwest  Territories 

New  Brunswick,   Nova    Scotia,  and 

Prince  Edward  Island 

Mexico , 

United  Slates j    3».I22 

West  Indies  : 

Cnba '  ^ 

Hayti 7 

Jamaica    ^ ' ' 

Other  Islands  and  Central  America. ,  12 


428 

396 
45 


Total  North  America 39.193 


South  America  : 
Argentine  Republic. 

Brazil 

Patagonia 


279I      36,860 

259!      43.782 

29'        1,813 

25.354j3.496.988 

23  2.299 

3  202 

64  35.269 

ii|  6,865 

26,022  3,624,078 


Total  South  America. 


Europe : 

Austria-Hungary 

Denmark 

Finland 

France 

Germany 

Great  Britain  : 

England 

Ireland 

Scotland 

Wales  and  Monmouthshire. 

Channel  Islands 

Non-reporting  churches 

Holland ' 

Italy 

Norway • 

Roumania  and  Bulgaria 

Russia  and  Poland 

Spain 

47 


I 
12 

i| 

14 

6 

25 
21 

45 
139 


90 

453 
24 


5 

15 

15 

35 

277 


,611 

26 

104 

749 

5 

330 

20 

33 

27 

4 

67 

5 


567 


2,675 
3.015 
1,329 
1.979 
27,332 


1,198 

208,728 

23 

2,200 

96 

13,208 

471 

98,122 

20 

249 

90 

20,000 

II 

1,316 

31 

1,151 

26 

1,950 

5 

1           325 

59 

16,443 

4 

1           100 

730      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

TABLE  XXXV,  (Continued.) 


Countries. 


-a  c 


Europe  (Continued): 

Sweden 

Switzerland 


Total  Europe. 


Asia  : 

Assam 

Burmah 

Ceylon 

China 

India,  including  Telugus. 

Japan 

Orissa 

Palestine 


Total  Asia. 


Africa: 

Central  (Congo) 

South 

West 

St.  Helena  and  Cape  Verd. 

Total  Africa 

Australasia  : 

New  South  Wales 

New  Zealand 

Queensland 

South  Australia 

Tasmania 

Victoria 


Total  Australia. 


Grand  total,  1893. 
Total,  1802 


Increase. 


539 
4 


3-760 

28 

580 

9 

51 

138 

16 

20 

3 


845 


51 


206 


44,069 
42,617 


618 
4 


3.003 


22 
203 

5 

48 

187 

25 

9 

I 


500 


87 


36,585 
439 


437.146 


2,971 
31,672 

1,088 
4,675 
58,432 
1,364 
1,436 
156 


101,794 

982 

2,450 

144 

125 


147 


29,871 


3,701 

2,016 

2,915 
2,035 
4,128 

559 

5,568 


17,221 


4.184,507 


28,82014,049,984 


i,452|      1,051 


134,523 


1  "  Baptist  Year-Book,"  1894. 
Note. — Great  difficulty  is  always  experienced  in  forming  this  table,  because  of  the 
immensity  of  the  territory,  and  also  for  want  of  uniformity  in  methods  of  collating 
the  statistics.   For  America,  Great  Britain,  Sweden,  Germany,  and  a  feu  other  coun- 
tries, as  well  as  our  mission  fields,  the  figures  are  for  1893  ;  the  remainder  for  189a. 


Appendix. 


731 


TABLE  XXXVI. 
CONGREGATIONAUSTS  '   IN  THK  WhOLK  WoRLD. 


CouNTsns. 

1880. 

Churches. 

Ministers. 

Communi- 
cants. 

\MERICA : 
United  States  ' 

3.743 

110 

I 

40 

3.654 

88 

I 

26 

384,332 

British  Provinces  * 

6,676 

Mexico  * 

17*^ 

Jamaica  and  British  Guiana 

3.673 

Total  America 

3.894 

3,219 

97 

3 

118 

4 

3.769 
2,718 

lOI 

2 

130 
15 

394,854 

Europe : 
British  Islands  * 

•376,074 

France  and  Belgium  * 

Spain  and  Portugal  * 

190 

Italy  and  Switzerland* 

Austria  and  Turkey* 

237 

Total  Europe 

3.441 

91 
170 

65 
16 

2,966 

104 

141 

50 

14 

376,501 

A.SIA: 
Western  Asia  *. 

6,383 
9,182 
3.696 

514 

India  and  Ceylon*  ' 

China*' 

Japan  * 

Total  Asia 

342 

309 

55 

86 

19.775 

5.213 
70.125 

Africa  : 
Continent  *  *  '• 

Madagascar' 

Total  Africa 

17 
"96 
206 

141 

340 
•145 

75.337 
'"  30,275 

Polynesia  *  *  ' 

Australasia 

•  •  •  • 

Aggregate 

7.996 

7,670 

896,74a 

'  Orthodox. 

2  Congregational  ''  Year-Book,"  i88i. 

3  Congregational  "  Quarterly."  1877,  pp.  64,  65. 

*  "  Missionary  Herald,"  January,  1881. 

5  English  Congregational  "Year-Book,"  i880b 

*  Estimate  by  Rev.  Henry  M.  Dexter,  D.D. 

^  Report  of  the  London  Missionarj'  Society,  for  i88a 

*  Report  of  American  Missionary  Association,  1880. 

9  Statistics  of  Foreign  Missions,  by  Rev.  William  B.  Boyce.     London,  1873. 
"  In  part  from  Report  of  London  Missionary  Society,  for  1879.     The  statistics 
of  the  Sandwich  Islands  are  for  1878. 

'•  The  Churches  of  the  London  Missionary  Society  not  given  in  their  Report. 


732      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


TABLE  XXXVIL 

CONGREGATIONALISTS   IN   THE    WHOLE   WORLD,  1893. 


Countries. 

V 

0 

3 

0 

c 

B 

'c 

0 
0 

c 
u 
u 

■a 

< 

America: 

United  States 

';.2'^6 

CTXP. 

561,631 
7,000 

581 

1,965,848 

28,157 
1,260 

British  Provinces 

170        .  .  . 

13          8 
50      .    . 

West  Indies  and  British  Guiana 

Total  America 

5469 

4,842 

6 

30 

5.146 

2,730 
15 
25 

569,212 

375,000 

402 

"1,665 

1,995,265 
1,757,017 

Europe  : 

Britisii  Isles 

2,298 
2,347 

Italy  and  Switzerland 

Austria  and  Turkey  in  Europe. 

Total  Europe 

4,878 

124 

100 

97 

67 

2,770 

112 

93 
39 
70 

377,067 

11,481 

17,526 

7,470 

1 1 ,070 

1,761,662 

46,864 

93,739 

7,520 

30,000 

Asia: 

Western  Asia 

India  and  Ceylon 

China ... 

Taoan 

Total  Asia 

1 
';88i     TT/i 

47,547 

5. "4 
63,020 

178,123 

11,824 

283,738 

Africa  : 

Continent 

46 
1,093 

21 

Madagascar 

Total  Africa 

1,139 
823 

21 

135 

68,134 
43,216 

295,562 
135-389 

Polynesia  and  Australasia.  . 

AppTCPate 

12,697 

8,836 

1,105,175 

4,366,001 

Appendix. 


733 


TABLE  XXXVIII. 
Methodists'  in  the  Whole  World. 


1860;« 

1880. 

CODNTBISa. 

Miniiten. 

Local 
Preacher*. 

Commanl- 
cantt. 

Ministers. 

Local 
Preachen. 

Commoiii- 
canls. 

America: 

United  States 

British  N.  America  .. 
W.  Ind.,  Bahamas,  etc 

12,843 
688 

I 

*l,930,7»4 
89,726 
40,260 

500 
4,067 

25,373 

1,682 

108 

27 

5 

25 

26,875 
4,323 

17 

9 

^3,775,733 
173,361 

51,905 
1,087 

Central  America 

South  America 

1,086 
4,958 

Total  America. 
EUR9PE: 

13,532 

3,377 
31 

13 
4 

3 

2,065,267 

•698,111 

1,551 

63 

1,279 

44 

27,220 

5,080 

37 
10 
98 
96 
48 
6 

31,224 

*44,i53 
92 

94 

99 

2 

4,008,150 

*  »88i,i37 

2,041 

398 

21,276 

13,150 

2,586 

44 

Spain,  Portugal   

Germany,  Switzerland 
Scandinavia 

Total  Europ*. 
Asia: 

India  and  Ceylon 

China.... 

Japan 

3,460 

6 
6 

701,048 

1,173 
72 

5,375 

164 

143 

8 

44,440 

46 
5 

920,632 

10,005 

2,884 

628 

Total  .^«<»  . 

13 
31 

17s 

1,245 
17,726 
33,128 

315 
177 
435 

156 

52 

3,771 

13,517 
51,657 
75,153 

Australasia  and  Pol- 

Aggregate 

17,300 

3S,ooo 

3,818,414 

33,523 

79,643 

5,069,109 

'  All  bodies  bearing  the  name  Methodist,  the  Evangelical  Association,  and  the 
United  Brethren,  both  of  which  Churches  are  Methodistic  in  origin,  polity,  and 
doctrine. 

'"Christian  Advocate,"  January  26,  i860,  and  "Ecclesiastical  Year-Book,'' 
for  i860,  by  Professor  Schem. 

'  Exclusive  of  members  in  mission  fields,  who  are  reckoned  in  countries  where 
ihey  live. 

♦  Including  six  or  seven  thousand  who  should  be  reckoned  in  mission  fields, 
but  we  are  unable  to  distribute  them  for  lack  of  sufficient  data. 

*  "  Whitaker's  London  Almanac,"  1881. 


734      Problem  of  Religious  Progress, 
table  xxxix. 

Methodists  in  the  Whole  World,'  1893  and  1894.* 


Countries. 

Ministers. 

Local 
Preachers. 

Members  or 
Communicants. 

America: 

United  States 

34,588 

1,687 

26 

108 

64 

23,731 
1,989 

207 
90 
44 

5,403,954 
252,102 

43,495 
8,030 

British  North  America  and 
Bermuda 

West  Indies,  Bahamas,  Hon- 

Mexico 

South  America ... 

3.644 

Total  America 

Europe  : 

36,473 

5,630 
34 
10 

234 

139 
41 
15 

26,061 

41,751 
87 
15 

252 

205 
21 

5,711,225 
^928,230 

France  

1,489 

Spain  and  Portugal 

Germany,       Austria,       and 

508 
31,251 

Norway,  Sweden,  Denmark, 

24,330 

Italy,  Naples,  and  Malta..  . 
Bulgaria 

2,839 
182 

Total  Europe 

6,206 

5" 
116 
129 

42,301 

683 

174 

50 

988,829 

Asia: 

India,  Ceylon,  Malaysia,  etc. 

139,031 
I4,f.6i 

7,125 

Total  Asia 

756 

460 

548 

907 

1,179 
2,602 

160,817 

Africa 

99,095 

Australia  and  Polynesia.. 

170,953 

44,453 

^73,050 

7,130,919 

'  See  explanations  under  previous  table.     The  figures  approximate  closely  to 
the  actual  number. 
«  Partly  for  1894. 

*  Full  reports  would  probalily  give  15,000  more  local  preachers. 

*  Including  about  70,000  junior  members. 


Appendix. 


73S 


TABLE   XL. 
Moravians  in  the  Whole  World,'  1880, 


COUNTRIBS. 


Congre-  Minis-   Comimmi- 
l^tions.      ters.         cants. 


America  : 

United  States 

Greenland  and  Labrador 
North  American  Indians 
West  Indies,  Barbadoes. 

Central  America 

South  America 


Total  America 


Europe  : 

British  Isles  .    

Bohemia 

German  Provinces 

2  i;     ^.  C  Germany,  Prussia 

o-S  p  i  J  Scandinavia 

a°°&1  Russia,  Baltic,  Poland, 
(5  a    **  [  Switzerland 


Total  Europe 


Africa 

Asia 

Australasia •  •  •  • 

Missionaries  and  their  families. 


Aggregate 


59 
12 

4 
41 

6 
16 


138 


38 
4 

26 

28 
7 

14 
6 


75 
62 

9 
89 
16 
72 


323 


162 


123 

15 
3 

3 


281 


321 
64 

7 
6 


631 


9.491 

1,245 

124 

14.576 
242 

5.619 


31.297 

3.361 

153 

5.878 

115 


9.507 

2,588 

15 

30 

317 


43.754 


>  Moravian  Year-Book,  1881. 


TABLE  XLI. 
Moravians  in  the  Whole  World,  1893-' 


British  Province  (40  Congregations,  includ- 
ing Home  Missions) •  •. -.•  ■ 

German  Province  (26  Congregations,  in- 
cluding Bethel) ••• • 

German  Province   (Diaspora  Laborers)...... 

American  Province,  Northern  (62  Congre^  s) 

American  Province,  Southern  (6  Congreg  s). 

Bohemia 

Missions  (107  Stations) 

Missionaries  and  families,  about 


Communicants. 

Total. 

3.136 

S,66o 

6,095 

7,956 

100 

125 

10,160 

i5.9'5 

2,OOI 

3,015 

278 

416 

3^653 

91,844 

327 

400 

53,750 

125,331 

1  "  Moravian  Almanac  "  for  1894. 


736      Problem  of  Religious  Progress, 
table  xlii. 

Foreign  Missions  op  the  United  States. — 1850. 


Europe : 
Greece 

Missions  not  reporting. . . . 
Turkey  in  Europe 

Missions  not  reporting. . . . 
Germany 

Missions  not  reporting 

France 

Missions  not  reporting 


Total  Europe 

Missions  not  reporting.. 
Asia: 
Western _. 

Missions  not  reporting. . . . 
India 

Missions  not  reporting. . . . 
China _. 

Missions  not  reporting. . . . 

Siam,  Burmah 

Ceylon 


Total  Asia 

Missions  not  reporting.. 
Africa  : 

Western 

Missions  not  reporting. . . . 

Southern _. 

Missions  not  reporting. . . . 


Total  Africa 

Missions  not  reporting. . 
America  ; 

Indians  in  U.  S 

Missions  not  reporting. . . . 

South  America 

Missions  not  reporting. . . . 

West  Indies 

Missions  not  reporting. . . . 


Total  A  tnerica 

Missions  not  reporting. 

OCEANICA* _ 

Missions  not  reporting. . . 


Aggregate .. 

Missions  not  reporting. 


Working  Foroat. 


64 


77 


196 


438 


80 


426 


185 

49 


641 
9 


124 

6 


249 

4 


10 

105 

S.ooo 

300 


5,415 

463 

I 

575 

3 

50 

2 

7,492 

345 


8,925 
5 

1,333 

I 
78 


1,411 


8,220 


265 

9 

67 


1,267 
31 


8,313 
3 

23,102 


47,266   883 
10     10 


Note. — The  above  table  has  been  collated  and  arranged  from  data  collected  by 
Rev.  R.  Baird,  D.D.,  ("  Christian  Retrospect  and  Register,")  with  a  few  correo- 
tions  and  additions. 

>  Confined  to  Polynesia 


Appendix. 


737 


TABLE  XLIII. 
FoHEiGN  Missions  of  the  United  States,  1880.* 


Europe: 
Scandinavia 

Missions  not  repor'g 
Germany  and  Switz 
erland 

Missions  not  repor'g 
France 

Missions  not  repor'g 
Spain  and  Portugal. 

Missions  not  repor'g 
Italy   , 

Missions  not  repor  g 
Austria 

Missions  not  repor'g 
Greece ;  • 

Missions  not  repor'g 

Bulgaria  and  Turkey 

in  Europe .- 

Missions  not  repor'g 


Station  I. 


126 


Total  Europe.. . 

Missions  not  repor'g 
Asia  : 
Western  Asia 

Missions  not  repor'g 
India 

Missions  not  repor'g 

Ceylon .-  - . 

Rurmah  and  Siam 

Missions  not  repor'g 
China 

Missions  not  repor'g 
Japan 

Missions  not  repor'g 


1,493 

I 

26 


Working  Forcu. 


368 


293 


380 
I 

336 
3 
15 

440 


Total  Asia 

Missions  not  repor'g 
Africa  : 
Western  Africa... 

Missions  not  repor'g 
Southern  Africa. . 
Egypt 


Total  Africa  ... 

Missions  not  repor'g 
North  America  : 
Chinese  in  California 

Missions  not  repor'g 
Indians 

Missions  not  repor'g 
Mexico 

Missions  not  repor'g 


473 
5 


334 
249 


1,460 
8 

63 
3 


954 

I 

57 

10 
14 


81 


365 
5 

5»7 

X 

1,176 

54 
450 

'fo6 
183 


2,986 


38 


397 
3 

284 


32>oSl 

44,988 
773 
280 


69 


838 


851 


67 
540 


26s 


78,918 
5 

9.077 

I 
34,687 

999I 
21,594 


436 


363 


98        151 


76,470 


3,408 


as 


130    7,688 
173 


5,233 
2,697 


1,222 
13 


630 
98s 


IS,«>7 

t 

8,919 


53,516 
4 

1,406 

2 

937 
r.2iE 


4,561 

2 

1,841 

1,153 
10 


738      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


TABLE  XLIIL 

(Continued.) 

1 

Stationi. 

Working  Foroei. 

1 

Comnanm. 

1 
1 

J 

1 

i 

1^ 
II 

i 

1 

1 

■r. 

South  America  : 
Brazil,  Guiana 

Missions  not  repor'g 
Columbia 

Missions  not  repor'g 
Argentine  Republic. . 
Chili 

5 

15 

I 

3 

4 

3 

9 
3 

I 

12 

I 
10 

16 

I 
6 
6 

IZ 

38 
3 

I 

9 
7 

19 

54 
3 

I 
( 

»5 

13 

30 

1,339 
•3 

93 
■36a 

4 
4 

X 

3 

4 

60s 

3 

39 

lOO 

65 

160 

Missions  not  repor'g 
West  Indies 

Total  A  nterica 

Missions  not  repor'g 
Polynesia 

45 
3 

108 

2 
4 

261 

45 

251 

4 
33 

421 

5 
40 

672 

9 
73 

36,8x7 

2 

17,904 

71 
II 

a 
la 

5,503 
15 

1,545 

IS 

Missions  not  repor'g 

TrS 

1,792 
10 

4,167 
II 

5,959 

31 

*>5,I32 
13I 

1,39a 
63 

65,82s 

55 

Missions  not  repor'gl 

4I         34 

^  Collected  from  reports  for  1880. 


TABLE  XLIV. 
FoRsiGN  Missions  of  Europe  and  America,  183a 


Europe : 
Greece,  Malta,  Smyrna,  etc. 

Asia  : 

Western  Asia 

Siberia 

China 

India ._ 

Burmah,  Siam 

Ceylon 

Indian  Archipelago 

Total  Asia 


161 


Working  Forces. 


££ 


185 


«S 


"4 

7 

»S 

495 

40 
150 
78 


809 


1,967 

100 

1,000 


3,069 


Appendix. 


739 


TABLE  XLIV,  (Continued.) 


a 

1 

3 

CD 
I 

•B 

1 

Working  Fonca, 

1 

Si 
•a  « 

li 

i 
1 

■< 

i 
1 

1 

> 

■s 

« 

1 

i 

li 

Sit 

Africa  : 

1 

9 

a 

a6 

43 

2 

2 

21 

6s 
S 

5 

19 
so 

6 

10 

50 

»iS 

s 

II 

1,117 
1,486 

1,800 

South          "            

9,198 

^ 

3*439 

Total  Africa 

«9 

36 

S 
3» 

73 

MS 
8 
70 

96 

200 

13 

118 

10 

317 
90 

10 

8 
7 

181 

517 

21 
215 

9,6q3 

7ii94 

2,167 

52,876 

America  : 

North  Americaxi  Indians 

South  America,  Guiana 

West  Indies    

3,000 
1,000 
9,000 

Total  America 

69 

3 
7 

293 

S 

3« 

331 

7 
27 

407 

22 

30 

15 

38 

753 

»9 
95 

62,167 

2y450 

13,000 

Ockanica: 
Australasia 

18,105 

Total  Octanica 

lO 

41 

34 

-18 

124 

9,45° 

18,364 

Aggr^ate 

122     S02I 

656 

776   460 

1,892 

70,289 

80,656 

Note. — The  above  table  has  been  collated  and  arranged  from  data  furnished, 
by  a  very  able  survey  of  the  religious  condition  of  the  world,  in  the  "  American 
Quarterly  Register,"  August,  1830,  pp.  25-60,  from  the  pen  of  that  eminent 
scholar.  Rev.  B.  B.  Edwards,  D.D.  It  is  not  presumed  to  be  absolutely  accurate 
at  every  point,  nor  is  it  complete,  there  being  numerous  omissions  of  important 
items,  which  could  not  be  supplied  ;  but  it  is  a  close  approximate  to  a  full  ex- 
hibit, and  the  best  that  can  now  be  obtained  for  that  period.  It  is  an  under- 
statement,  as  are  also  the  tables  for  later  periods.  This  will  appear  more  clearly 
on  examination  of  the  table  for  1880,  where  the  number  of  missions  not  reporting 
given  items  ia  careiullv  specified. 


740      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


TABLE    XLV. 
Foreign  Missions  of  Europe  and  America,  1850, 


1 
1 

Working  Forcet. 

i 
1 

a 
1 
0 

1 

1 

CODHTBUS. 

■? 

i 

i 

CO 

Europe : 

Germany 

France  

Greece 

Turkey  in  Europe 

I 
2 
2 
3 

40 
13 

40 

14 

I 

10 

I 
14 

80 

9 
7 

120 
14 
II 
31 

5,000 

300 

14 

S 

I 

■462 
Sio 

Total  Europe 

Asia: 

Western 

India 

8 

5 
18 

12 

3 
5 
3 

62 

20 

133 

23 

8 

1 

65 

44 

359 
63 
30 
53 
6 

15 

51 
97 
41 

38 
16 

96 

41 

1,591 

18 

125 

324 

5 

176 

136 

2,047 

122 

193 

393 
II 

S.429 

467 

24,878 

67 

7,493 
2,651 

24 

6 

61 
I, III 

20 

83 

345 

3 

972 

2,305 

47,897 

269 

2,303 

11,914 

390 

Siam,  Burmah 

Ceylon 

Indian  Archipelago 

Total  v4«a 

Africa  : 
Western 

46 

12 
ti 
3 

217 

28 

130 

5 

555 

93 

214 

8 

243 

170 

155 

I 

2,104 

75 
8 
4 

2,902 

338 

377 

13 

35,580 

9,625 
12,016 

x8 

1,623 

152 

60 
3 

65,078 

13,63^ 

20,102 

178 

Southern  

Eastern 

Total /4/r«ra 

North  America: 

26 

40 
2 
4 

40 

163 

62 
10 
IS 
84 

315 

235 
53 
IS 

266 

326 
119 

"e 
20 

87 

70 

5 
344 

728 

424 

S3 

26 

630 

21,659 

24,703 
1,082 
1,521 

71,984 

215 

89 

'5 
135 

33,9" 
2,886 

Greenland  and  Labrador . 

3,057 
1,153 
9,869 

West  Indies 

Total  A  merica 

OCEANICA  : 

Australasia 

86 

8 
4 

171 

15 
72 

569 

100 
68 

145 

10 
44 

419 

515 
52 

1,133 

625 
164 

99,290 

13,751 
35,248 

239 

214 
442 

16,965 

13,694 
17,319 

Total  Oceanica 

12 

87 

168 

54 

567 

789 

48,999 

656 

31,013 

Aggregate 

178 

700 

1,672 

783 

3,293 

5,728 

210,957 

2,739 

147,939 

Note. — The  above  table  has  been  prepared  from  data  furnished  by  Rev.  Robert 
Baird,  D.D.,  ("Christian  Retrospect  and  Register,"  Appendix,)  with  a  few  cor- 
rections, and  some  omissions  supplied.  It  is  not  presumed  to  be  absolutely  cor- 
rect, some  items  being  frequently  omitted  in  the  reports  of  some  of  the  Mis- 
sionary Societies,  and  some  having  methods  of  making  up  their  statistics  very 
different  from  others.  The  aggregates  are  believed  to  be  short  of  the  full  num- 
bers. But  the  table  is  worthy  of  confidence,  as  a  close  approximation  to  the  true 
facts,  and  the  best  that  can  be  obtained  for  that  period. 


Appendix. 


741 


TABLE   XLVI. 
Foreign  Missions  of  Europe  and  America,  1880. 


North  America 

Greenland,  1880  , . 

Miss,  not  repor'g 
At/,/iW{Din.)  1873 

Miss,  not  repor  g 
Labrador,  1880.. 

Miss,  not  repor'g 
Brit.  Domin'n,  1880 

Miss,  not  repor'g 
A  dditionaly  1873 . . 

Miss,  not  repor'g 
Indians,  1880 

Miss,  not  repor'g 
Chinese,  1880 

Miss,  not  repor'g 
Me.\ico,  1880 

Miss,  not  repor'g 
Cen.  America,  1880 

Miss,  not  repor'g 
West  Indies,  1880. 

Miss,  not  repor'g 
Additional,  1873.. 

Miss,  not  repor'g 

Total  N.  A  merica 
Miss,  not  repor'g 

South  America 
Guiana,  1880  .  . . 

Miss,  not  repor'g 
Brazil,  1880 

Miss,  not  repor'g 
Columbia,  1880 

Miss,  not  repor'g 
Argentine  Rep.  '80 

Miss  not  repor'g 
Chili,  1880 

Miss,  not  repor'g 

Total  5.  A  merica 
Miss,  not  repor'f 

Total  A  merica  . . 
Miss,  not  repor'g 

Europe : 
Ireland,  (Pap.,)  '80 
Additional  1873. . 

Miss,  not  repor'g^ 
Engl'd.  (Jews.)  '80 

Miss,  not  repor'g! 


6 

244 

318 
3 

59 
I 
4 
z 

23 

7 

261 

4 


1.005 


Working  Forces. 


152 

4 

4 
78 
3 

18 
I 
418 
5 
9 


1,214 
32 

65 
3 
9 
3 


86 


1,300 
40 


680 


1,602 
4 


1.719 
6 


1.363 

5 

223 


16 


3.32S 
13 


503 


55S 
4 


51 
336 


3 

_£_ 

84 
"65 
"87 

751 

3 
1,662 

6 

384 

3 

45 

I 

151 

z 

78 

1.590 


4.930 

17 


67s 
6 


5.605 
83 


85 
436 

I 
28 


783 

I 
462 

5.598 

3,657 
6 

5.331 

I 

413 

I 

5,919 

t.328 
;,o3o 

2 

1.3" 


".833 

13 

11,065 

».339 
83 
4fa 
93 


224,814 


4,076 

623 

4 


1.533 
9,000 
1,260 

90.134 

I 

46.849 

8 

37 

4 

"6 
4,030 

179,248 
9 


332.054 
S8 


47.585 
5 


47.585 
8 


379.639 
66 


9»»79 
5 


1% 


285 


836 

10 
1,470 

10 
1,841 

>.55» 

2 

817 

I 

29,499 

9 

1.335 


386 
36 


37.349 
38 


4.657 

2 

605 

3 

29 


65 


5.45^ 


439  42,805 
42    43 

1,076 

6.593 

4 


742      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


TABLE   XLVI,  (Continued.) 


WotUng  Foie«t. 


8       19 


20S 


176 


493 

1.699 

a 
218 


103 
5 


Europe : 

Denmark,  Sweden, 

Norway,  1880.. . 

Miss,  not  repor'g- 

Germany,  Austria, 

Switzerl'd,  1880. 

Miss,  not  repor'g. 
France,  iS&a 

Miss,  not  repoi'g. 
Additional^  1871  . 

Miss,  not  repor  g. 

Spain   and    Portu- 

ral,  1880 

Miss,  not  repor'g 
Additional^  1873 

Miss,  not  repor  g. 

Italy,  Naples,  and 

Malta,  1880 

Miss,  not  repor'g. 
Greece,  1880 

Miss,  not  repor'g. 
Bulgaria  and  Tur- 
key in  Europe,'8o 

Miss,  not  repor'g. 
Additional^  \%Ti  . 

Miss,  not  repor  g. 

Total  Europe. . . 
Miss,  not  repor'g. 

Africa  : 

South  Africa,  1880 

Miss,  not  repor'g. 
Additional,  1873  . 

Miss,  not  repor  g. 
Middle  and  West- 
em  Africa,  1880. 

Miss,  not  repor'g. 
Additional,  1873  . 

Miss,  not  repor  g. 
North-east.  Africa 

Miss,  not  repor'g. 
Additional,  1873  . 

Miss,  not  repor  g, 
Madagascar,  1880. 

Miss,  not  repor'g, 
Additional,  1873  . 
Mauritius,  1880  . . . 

Miss,  not  repor'g. 
St.  Helena,  1880  . . 

Miss,  not  rep>or'g. 


Total  Africa. . .  103     589   3,934 
Miss,  not  repoi'g.l  .  j\       58 


2i934 
33 


112 
17 

454 
7 

7 
45 

3 
62 

9 

1.152 


169 


15 


348 

X 

169 


58 


1,285 
18 


2,020 

3 

177 


174 

4 

188 

I 

36 


58 


9,070 
85 


2.339 

3 

325 

19 

1,291 
a 

243 
4 

308 

X 

71 

4 
7.442 


:i 


si 


33,696 


47.155 


813 


4.658 

9 

9 
3 

69 


94.036 
37 

45.308 
13,888 

XX 

25.846 

6 

7,118 


70,187 

'388 
456 


89711,094    1,991164,701    5x8,0751,696   98,381 
*         35  34  30  59I       57  48 


9.506 


i»5 


6,000 


3,688 


38 


43,076 
48 


X53,677 
5 

»8,795 
*9 

79.564 

»5 

10,400 

S 


158 
9,x69 


394 
48 


23 
as 

263 
7 

37 

4 
52 

X 

»7 

7 

882 


Appendix. 


743 


TABLE   XLVI,  (C 

ontinued.) 

c 

3 

I 

3 

Worklog  FoTMi.     1 

i 

1 

3 

P 

.1 

1^ 

Cocrmns. 

a  ^ 

•D-O 

1 

a 

g 

£ 

1 

o4 

f\ 

1 

1 

1=5 

la 

0. 

£ 

Asia: 

Western  Asia.  1880 

13 

33 

383 

348 

581 

929 

10,380 

1,781 

303 

17.390 

Miss,  not  repor'g. 

5 

3 

2 

4 

9 

4 

3 

idditional.  187^  . 

10 

13 

17 

152 

169 

220 

Miss,  not  repor'g. 

3 

10 

3 

6 

8 

10 

10 

10 

9 

India,  1880 

44 

34-' 

1,002 

764 

5,3>3 

6,o7g 

8o.97| 

309,966 

2,721 

135,054 

Miss,  not  repor'g. 

3 

20 

3 

5 

12 

II 

s 

Additional,  1873  . 
Miss,  not  repor'g. 

22 

76 

30 

158 

325 

483 

16,562 

21,764 

180 

6 

6,950 
c 

18 

3 

6 

9 

6 

12 

Burmah,  Siam,  '80 

2 

15 

440 

90 

450 

540 

21,594 

173 

'.,333 

Miss,  not  repor'g. 

I 

3 

China,  1880 

29 

158 

465 

302 

1,088 

1,390 

19,434 

9,436 

161 

4,926 

Miss,  not  repor'g. 

7 

3 

3 

3 

25 

12 

S 

Additional^  1873  . 

3 

15 

22 

24 

57 

81 

333 

3 

36 

Miss,  not  repor  g. 

I 

.... 

I 

I 

I 

3 

I 

2 

Japan,  1880 

II 

29 

58 

97 

201 

298 

2,436 

397 

93 

6 

1,348 

^iiss.  not  repor'g. 

5 

I 

I 

I 

„2 

4 

Ceylon,  1880 

6 

i2g 

170 

125 

1,005 

1,13° 

7,278 

14,988 

667 

35,408 

Miss,  not  repor'g. 

3 

3 

I 

I 

East  Indies,  1880  . 

14 

56 

"48 

17 

■'65 

85,814 

63,754 

»3 

11,518 

Miss,  not  repor'g. 

II 

14 

7 

7 

10 

10 

II 

Additional,  1873  . 
Miss,  not  repor'g. 

21 

36 

60 

77 

137 

879 

90,400 

22 

575 

17s 

II 

902 

SI 

10 
2,033 

16 

26 

19 

30 

16 

4,265 

18 

Total/lj/a 

2,570 

9,266 

11,299 

345,685 

341,686 

217,858 
66 

Miss,  not  repor'g. 

28 

104 

55 

40 

6S 

61 

104 

77 

0CE>NICA  : 

Australasia,  1880. . 

17 

1,251 

891 

429 

1,785 

2,214 

33,143 

229,955 

26 

3,658 

Miss,  not  repor'g. 

2 

13 

II 

II 

a 

6 

14 

II 

Additional,  1873  . 
Miss,  not  repor  g. 

25 

293 

133 

374 

341 

7>5 

19,214 

80,474 

859 

3 

19 

2 

18 

20 

II 

18 

35 

33 

Polynesia,  1880  . . . 

24 

1,032 

414 

422 

6,105 

6,527 

75,006 

218,691 

2,42; 

68.675 

Miss,  not  repor'g. 

6 

7 

6 

S 

4 

8 

Additional,  1873  . 
Miss,  not  repor  g. 

3 

II 

33 

37 

94 

131 

733 

3,000 

71 

3,000 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

Total  Oceanica. 

68 

3,587 

1,471 

1,262 

8,325 

9,587 

128,096 

532,120 

2,522 

75,193 

Miss,  not  repor'g. 

504 

5 

5,765 

38 

4 

6,696 

36 

4C 

iS 

33 

47 

43 

Aggregate 

12,209 

33,856 

40,552 

857,33= 

i,8i3,59« 

9,3i« 

447,6* 

Miss,  not  repor'g. 

52 

273 

51I       136 

187'        14S 

310 

371        «47 

NoTB.— The  above  table  is  not  quite  complete.  The  author,  not  having  many 
of  the  reports  of  the  Missionary  Societies  of  the  European  Continent,  for  i88o, 
has  supplied  this  lack  with  the  additional  for  1873  (see  above)  from  a  semi- 
official source.  The  statistics  of  the  British  and  American  Societies  for  iSS^a  are 
Dearly  complete.  The  reader  is  referred  to  the  chapter  on  Foreign  Missions.  The 
full  fruitage  of  Protestant  foreign  missions  should  strictly  take  in  all  the  religious 
life  of  Canada,  Australia,  West  Indies,  etc. 


744      Problem  of  Religious  Progress, 
table  xlvii. 

Foreign  Missionary  Societies  of  the  Evangelical  Churches 
OF  THE  United  States,  1892-93. 


Societies. 


American  Board 

Presbyterian  Board,  North     . . 

Presbyterian    Board,  South .... 

Reformed  Ch.  in  Amer.  (Dutch) 

United  Presbyterian  Board   ... 

Cumberland  Presbyterian  Ch. . 

Reformed  Presbyterian  Church 
(Covenanler) 

Reformed  Ch.  of  the  U.  S.  (Ger.) 

Reformed  Presb.  Gen.  Synod. 

Amer.  Baptist  Miss'ry  Union' . . 

Baptist  Southern  Convention.. 

Free  Baptists. 

Seventh-day  Baptists^ 

Ger.  Bap.  Brethr'n  (Dunkards). 

IVIethodist  Epis.  Church,  includ- 
ing Woman's  Society' 

Bishop  Taylor's  Transit  and 
Building  Society 

Methodist  Epis.  Church,  South. 

Methodist  Protestant  Church.. 

Wesleyan  Methodist 

Protestant  Epis.  For.  Miss.  Soc. 

Evangelical  Association 

United  Brethren  in  Christ 

Evang.  Luth.  General  Council. 

Foreign  Christian  Missionarj^ 
Society  (Disciples) 

Christian  Church 

United  Brethren  (Moravians)^.. 

Woman's  Union  .Mission'y  Soc. 

Ger.  Evang.  Synod  of  N'th  Am. 

Seventh-day  Adventists^ 

American  Bible  Society 

American  Tract  Society 

The  Friends'  Church 


1,12^ 
586 
loS 
202 
239 


9 
1,065 


171 

45 

422 

146 


201 
256 

54 
27 

30 
6 

7 
4 


356 
367 


4 
242 

3 


2,741 

1,647 

130 

392 

521 

23 

57 
45 
17 
1,644 
79 


6 
13 

'236 
32 
24 
326 


41,522 

31,324 
2,800 

5,799 

10,641 

716 

236 

1,842 

120 

101,469 

2,923 

860 

30 

'65 


700 

6,709 

334 

3,901 

1 1 , 1 50 

5,978 

1,441 

3,004 
199 


375 
876 


M 


1,167 

725 

30 

172 

264 

5 

31 
2 
3 
1,213 
16 
93 
4 


Total 691  4,835  1,256  i,737|  13,112  304,9051  5,600  179,087 


D-2 

50,533 

28,983 

1,373 

5,099 

12,068 

176 

618 
222 
90 


3,565 
71 

33,578 

800 

2,499 

131 

5 

5,223 

50 

594 

1,608 

1,100 
20 

4,768 
450 


1  The  work  of  these  Societies  in  Protestant  Europe  is  not  here  reported. 

*  Reported  last  year. 

3  Excepting  receipts  in  the  United  States,  the  v/ork  of  the  Moravians  is  given 
in  the  table  of  British  Societies. 

*  American  missionaries. 


Save  in  the  instances  noted,  the  above  table  contains  a  report  by 
the  proper  official  of  each  Society   represented,  made  since  October 


Appendix. 


745 


15,  1893,  and  gives  the  very  latest  tiguies  obtainable.  Comparing 
the  totals  of  last  year,  the  chief  increase  here  indicated  is  in  the 
native  laborers,  over  1,800  having  been  added  to  the  forces.  The 
contributions  have  passed  the  five  million  point,  and  show  an  in- 
crease over  last  year  of  about  $136,000. 


TABLE   XLVIII. 
British  Foreign  Missionary  and  Kindred  Societies,  1892-93. 


Name  of  Society. 


Baptist  Missionary  Society 

Baptist  Zenana  Missionary  Society 

China  Inland  Mission 

Church  Missionary  Society 

Church  of  Eng.  Zenana  Kliss'y  Soc. 

Church  of  Scotland 

Church  of  Scotland,  Women's  Asso'ii 

Congo  Balolo  Mission 

Free  Church  of  Scotland 

Friends'  Foreign  Mission  Association. 

p'riends'  Syrian  Mission 

Indian  l-emale  Normal    School    and 

Instruction  Society 

London  Missionary  Society 

Methodist  New  Connection 

Moravian  Missions 

North  Africa   Mission 

Presbyterian  Church  of  England 

Presbyterian  Church  of  Ireland 

Primitive    Methodist 

Salvation    Army 

Society  for  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 
South  American  Sessionary  Society. 

Syrian  Mission  Schools 

United  Methodist  Free  Churches. .. . 

United  Presbyterian  Church 

Universities'  Missions 

Waldensian  Church  Mission 

Wesleyan  Missionary  Society 

Welsh  Calvinistic  Methodist 


Total 2,308 


•  European  missionaries. 

Pupils  in  Schools 474.264 

Receipts  of  above  Societies,  1892-93 f 6,602.182 

Twenty  nine  other  Societies 712,902 

Four  Medical  Missionary  Societies 15.587 

Nine  Bible  and  Tract  Societies 1,024,769 

Four  missions  to  the  Jews 272,239 

British  Roman  Catliolic  Miss' ry  Soc.  (about)  45,000 
48 


746      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

which  makes  the  grand  total  income  (including  funds  raised  and 
appropriated  at  mission  stations)  of  British  foreign  missionary  and 
kindred  societies  $8,672,679. 

TABLE  XLIX. 

Summary  of  Protestant  Foreign  Missions. 
Rev.  Dr.  E.  Strong,  Editor  of  the  Missionary  Herald,  Boston, 
the  author  of  the  tables  for  1892-93,  says  :  "A  summary  is  naturally 
looked  for,  and  yet  such  a  summary  must  be  imperfect.  The  fig- 
ures given  below,  so  far  as  they  relate  to  the  United  States,  Canada, 
and  Great  Britain,  are  of  our  own  compiling,  and  are  the  most  re- 
cent, covering  the  year  1892,  save  in  a  few  cases  where  the  year  of 
the  Society  reporting  ended  in  the  spring  of  1893.  These  tables  are 
derived  from  original  sources,  and  are  believed  to  be  tiioroughly  re- 
liable. For  continental  Europe  and  other  portions  of  the  world 
not  heretofore  fully  reported,  we  have  taken  the  figures  from  Dean 
Vahl's  statistics,  which  cover  the  year  1891.  Dr.  Vahl's  tables  do 
not  give  the  wives  of  missionaries  as  do  ours.  It  should  always  be 
kept  in  mind  that  there  is  great  diversity  of  method  in  the  reports  of 
missionary  societies,  and  the  summaries  can  be  only  approximately 
correct.  The  totals  given  are  undoubtedly,  in  all  cases,  less  than 
the  true  figures,  could  full  reports  be  obtained.  It  is  cheering  to 
notice  that  in  almost  all  columns  there  is  an  increase  year  by  year." 


a 

u 

4) 

c 

C 

■e 

Societies. 

n 

1-1 

'c 

.5* 

". 

-a 

> 

S 

0 
E 

Oh 

3 
0 

fa 

Com 

Inco 

United  States 

691 

4,835 

1,256 

1,737 

13,112 

304,905 

$i;,ii9,668 

Canada 

16 

145 

8q 

103 

608 

7,806 

382,261 

( Ireat  Britain 

2,308 

7,496 

2,739 

1,875 

27,060 

410,357 

6,602,182 

Continental  Europe.. 

960 

2191 

5,772 

224,751 

1,434,470 

West  Indies,  Asia,  Af- 

rica, and  Australia. 

'  .  .  .  . 

632 

■•'51 

5,870 

276,786 

863,710 

Total 

3,045 

12,476 

5,667 

3,957 

52,422 

1,224,605 

$14,402,291 

'  Not  reported.        ^  Wives  not  included.        '  Missionaries. 


Appendix. 


747 


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t^  i^  moo  tC 

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foo  ■»<»  N       5  o 


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«Kxt«     («:«     H!^ 


748      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 


TABLE  LI. 
Yearly  Rate  of  Increase  of  Population.* 


Countries. 


Observed 
Period. 


Yearly 
Rate  of 
Increase. 


Observed 
Period. 


V  early 
Rate  of 
Increase. 


France 

Italy 

United  Kingdom 

England  and  Wales 

Ireland 

Denmark 

Sweden 

Norway 

Russia  in  Europe 

Austria  (Cisleithania) 

Hungary 

Switzerland 

Prussia  (without  recent  annexations) 
Prussia  (with  recent  annexations). . . 

Bavaria 

Saxony 

Wurtemberg 

Holland 

Belgium 

Portugal 

Spain 

Poland 

Greece 

Servia 

United  States 


1800-61 
1801-61 
1801-61 

1801-61 
1801-60 
1800-60 
1800-60 
1851-63 
1830-60 
1830-60 
1837-60 
1820-61 
1830-61 
181 8-61 
1820-61 
1834-61 

1795-59- 
1831-60 
1801-61 
1 800-60 
1823-58 
1821-61 

1834-59 
I 860-70 


0.61 
0.98 
1-37 

o.  17 

0-93 
0.82 
0.99 
1.20 
0.64 
0.27 

0.59 
1. 21 
1.16 
°-55 
1.41 
0-34 
0.71 
0.48 
0.39 
0.66 
0.72 
1.22 
1.92 
2.04 


860-77 
861-78 
861-78 
860-75 
871-81 
861-78 
860-78 
860-78 
860-78 
"'  -75 


860-77 
860-78 
861-75 
861-75 
861-78 
861-78 
861-78 
859-77 
860-78 
861-74 
860-77 

858-77 
861-77 

859-77 


0-35 

0.71 

0.92 

1.24 

1.44 

0.462 

I. II 

I-I5 

0.86 

1 .11 

0.86 

0-5S 

0.60 

0.98 

0.83 

054 

1.56 

0.76 

0.9s 

0.82 

1. 17 

°.3S 

1-95 

0.97 

1. 19 

2.61 


The  above  table  includes  the  effect.s  of  immigration  and  emigration. 
An  Earlier  Table.^ 


Countries. 


"  =  | 

c  u  3 
«  o  c 


United  States 

Prussia 

Turkey  (European) 

Russia 

Great  Britain 

Austria 

France 

Spain 


1790 
1786 
1801 
1783 
1801 
1792 
1762 
1723 


3,929,827 
6,000,000 
8,500,000 
27,400,000 
15,800,000 
23,500,000 
21,769,000 
7,625,000 


1844 


1850  23,191,876  60 

16,331,187  63 

15,500,000  43 

62,088,000  67 

27i475'27ii  50 

36,514,3971  59 

35,783,170  89 

1834   12,232,194  III 


19,262,049  8 
10,331,187 

7,000,000 
34,688,000 
11,675,271 
13,014,3971 
14,014,170 

5,607,194 


The  annual  increase  of  the  United  States  has  been  nearly  three 
times  as  great  as  tliat  of  Prussia,  notwithstanding  the  large  popula- 
tion that  was  added  to  her  by  the  partition  of  Poland  ;  more  than 
four  times  as  much  as  Russia  ;  six  times  as  much  as  Great  Britain  ; 
nine  times  as  much  as  Austria  ;  ten  times  as  much  as  France. 

'  Prepared  by  Signore  Luigi  Bodio.  See  "  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,"  vol.  xix, 
P-  515- 

^  Decrease. 

^  See  "Compendium  of  the  United  States  Census,"  1850,  p.  131. 


Appendix. 


749 


TABLE   LII. 
Independent  States  under  Christian  Governments. 


States,  includingColonies 
AND  Dependencies. 


Area  in  Square  Miles. 


Populations. 


1875- 


1875.' 


Protestant  States. 
British  Kmpire  : 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland.. 

Indian  Possessions 

Other  Eastern  Possessions. 

Aiistr.ilasia,  etc 

America,  North 

"        South 

Africa 

West  Indies 

European  Possessions 


■     8,755,159 


Total . 


German  Empire 

Foreign  Dependencies. 

United  States 

The  Netherlands 

Foreign  Dependencies. 

Sweden 

Norway 

Madagascar 

Switzerland 

Denmark 

Colonies 

Liberia. .    

Transvaal  Republic 

Orange  Free  State 

Sandwich  Islands 

Australian  Islands 


Total  Protestant. 


Roman  Catholic  States 
France.. \_ 

Colonies  and  Dependencies  ) 

Austria-Hungary 

Italy ■ 

Colonies  and  Dependencies 
Spain I 

Colonies  and  Dependencies   S 

Brazil 

Mexico  

Portugal I 

Colonies  and  Dependencies!  \ 

Belgium 

Colombia 

Peru 

Chili.     

Bolivia      

Argentine  Confederation  and 
Territories 


121,115 

1,600,000 

104,441 

3-403005 

3,525,000 

76,000 

295,000 

20,343 

124 


\     283,604,841 


8,755,159 


208,729 


3,611,844 

12,648 

661,452 

294,030 

228,600 

15,992 

54,308 

9,567 
114,000 

42,479 
7,629 

320,750 


9,145,328 

208,738 
996,150 
3,501,409 
12,648 
719,674 
170,979 

124,445 
228,500 
15.976 
15,289 
86,614 
14,360 


283,604,841 
41,060,864 


38,555,983 
\       26,569,000 

\         6,063,800 

5,000,000 
2,669,147 


48,326 

7,629 

320,750 


718,000 

300,000 

57,000 

56,877 
1,926,100 


14,337,187 


577,195 
240,954 
114,409 

316,075 

3,288,100 
741,823 

741,625 

11,373 
320,738 
503,468 
126,034 
500,880 

838,605 


15,616,815 


204,092 

1,071,843 

240,942 

110,623 

546,100 

197,670 

405,338 

3,209,878 

767,005 

34,038 

743,204 

",373 

.504,773 

643,747 

393,970 

567,360 

1,125,086 


r38, 

288. 

4. 


500,000 

,350.000 
169,000 
200,000 
200,000 
285,000 
000,000 
136,000 
185,500 


346,025,500 

49.428,470 
6,606,000 

62,622,250 
I     4,669,576 

32,000,000 
4,806,865 
2,000,917 
3,500,000 
2,917,754 
2,185,335 
114,229 
1,068,000 


77,716 

80,578 

2,000,000 


408,569,612 


41,736,000  -J 
35,904,435 
26,801,154  < 

25,196,100 
10,296,238 
9,158,247 
8,028,500 

5,253,821 
2,894,992 
2,500,000 
2,074,000 
2,000,000 

1,812,500 


38,343,192 
32,194,544 
41,358,886 
30,535,848 

6,258,800 
17-565,632 

9,695,567 
14,002,335 
11,642,720 

4,708,178 

5,371,200 

6.195,353 
3,878,600 
2,971,844 
2,867,375 
1,192,162 

4,257,000 


750      Problem  of  Religious  Progress. 

TABLE    LII,  (Continued.) 


States,  including  Colonies 
AND  Dependencies. 


Area  in  Square  Miles. 


1875- 


Populations. 


1875.' 


Venezuela  and  Territories. 

Ecuador 

Guatemala 

San  Salvador 

Hayti 

Honduras 

Uruguay 

Nicaragua 

Paraguay   

Luxemburg 

Costa  Rica 

San  Domingo 

Andorra 

Lichenstein 

San  Marino 

Monaco 

Total  Roman  Catholic, 


Eastern  Church  States. 

Russian  Empire 

Roumania 

Abyssinia 

Greece 

Servia  

Montenegro 

Total  Eastern  Church . . . 

Under  Christian  Gov'ts.. 


403,272 

248,300 

40,778 

7,335 

9,2331 

47,092 j 

69,800 

58,169! 

56,714! 

999; 

2ii4.33 

19,959 

144 


9,304,605 


',535,142 
46,710 
158,400 

19.353 
16,817 
1,701 


593,943 

120,000 

46,800 

7,225 

10,204 

43,000 

72,110 

49,500 

98,000 

998 

23,000 

18,045 

175 


1,784,194 

1,308,000 

1,194,000 

600,000 

572,000 

350,000 

300,000 

250,000 

221,079 

197,528 

185,000 

136,500 

12,000 

8,060 

7,816 

5,741 


2,323,527 

1,271,861 

1,460,017 

780,426 

960,000 

396,048 

728,447 

282,845 

480,000 

211,088 

243-205 

610,000 

6,000 

8,060 

8,200 

13,304 


11,860,150 


8,660,2821 
48,307' 


25,041 
19,050 
3,630] 


180,787,905 


85,686,000 
4,500,000 
3,000,000 

1,457,* 

1,338,000 

120,000 


242,822,264 


117,561,874 
5,800,000 


2,187,208 

2,226,741 

200,000 


8,778,123!    8,756,3101 


96,101,894 


32,419,915!  36,233,275!        685,459,4" 


127,975,823 
890,901,277 


'  Statistics  of  Professor  A.  J.  Schem,  LL.D. 

"^  Collated  from  the  "  Statesman's  Year  Book  "  for  1894,  from  censuses  taken 
between  1887  and  1893,  ^^^  chiefly  1890  and  1891. 


NDEX 


Abolitionists,  The  "come-outer  "  wing 

of,  215. 
Absolutism  passing  away,  460. 
Accountability  to  God,  138. 
Activities,    An    exhibit     of     religious, 

428-430. 
Activity,  New  religious,   401. 
Adams.  Hon.  John  Quincy,  211. 

Rev.  Dr.  N.,  112. 
Addison,  quoted,  300,  390,  497. 
Additions  to  churches,  429,  430. 
Adopted  fellow-citizens,  302. 
Adultery,  Penalty  for,  236. 
Advent,  second  excitement,  22. 
Adventures,  Wild,  246. 
Advertisements  of  runaway  wives,  231. 
Africa,  Kngland  in,  657. 
Africans  in  slave-ships,  222. 
Agassiz,  Professor,  132. 
Age  of  Reason,  Paine's,  108. 
Agnosticism  of  Mill,  133. 

passing  away,  132. 
Albert,  Prince,  (jood  influence  of,  309. 
Alcohol,  375. 

Congresses,  307. 
Alcoholism,  342. 
America,  Discovery  of,  55. 

threatened  with  great  evils,  203. 
American  .\ssociation  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science,  157. 

Cyclopedia,  29.^. 

Quarterly   Register,  quoted,  109,  113, 

47?.  475.  553-     . 

Statistical  Association,  327. 

Temperance  Society,  293. 
Amoskeag  Falls,  194. 
Amsterdam    Temperance    Association, 

307- 
Amusements,  Brutal,  177. 
Anabaptists,  76,  382. 
Anarchy,  340-363. 
Andover  House,  The,  501. 

Manual,  203. 
Andrew,  Hon.  John  A.,  299. 

St.,  Society,  505. 
Andrews,  Rev.  Bishop  E.  G.,  451,  452. 
Anglican  Communion,  729. 
Anglo-Saxon  dueling,  308. 

race,  668,  669. 
Anglo-Saxons,  History  of,  649. 
Antinomian  spirit,  442. 
Antiquity,  Resurrection  of,  57. 
Anti-saloon  crusade,  299. 


.Antitrinitarians,  73,  75,  77. 
.Antony,  Mark,  264. 
.\pocalyptic  dream,  16. 
Apostles  of  Complaint,  19. 
.Applied  Christianity,  500. 
Aquinas,  Thomas,  54. 
Archipelago,  The  Eastern,  651. 
Architecture,  Mediajval,  163. 

languishes.  336. 
Arcot  .Mission,  644. 

Areas  under  Church  governments,  656. 
Arians,  77,  104,  136.  398. 
Aristotle's  Philosophy,  33,  57,  58. 
-Armada,  53S. 
Armies  disbanded,  399. 

Standing.  397. 
-Arminian,  Wesley  an,  394. 
.Arminianism,  35. 
Arminians  oppose  Descartes,  81. 
Arnold,  Matthew,  147. 
Art  in  Greece,  etc..  493. 
Arthur,  President,  quoted,  463,  464. 
Association,  General,  of  Ma.ssachusetts, 

214. 
Atheism,  19,  130. 

an  aristocratic  belief,  100. 

Little  of,  in  the  world,  129. 

Profaneness  of,  179. 
Atheistic  press.  363. 
Atheists  in  United  States,  106. 
Atlantic  Monthly,  The,  27,  93,  368. 
Atonement,  Vicarious,  104,  125. 
Australia,  J78. 

Progress  in,  661. 

Statistics  of,  627. 
Averroes,  quoted,  64. 
Awakening,  The  Great,  393. 


Babel,  354. 

of  belief,  94. 
Babels  of  moral  corruption,  357. 
Bacon,  79. 

on  immortality,  138. 

Rev.  Dr.  Leonard,  iii,  402. 
Bacon's  Empiricism,  84. 
Badger,  Rev.  Joseph,  202. 
Baird,  Rev.  Robert,  D.D.,  109,615,650. 
Balbi,  Adrian,  520. 
Ballots,  Satanic  count  of,  360. 
Ballon,  Rev.  Hosea,  no,  138,  139. 
Bancroft,  Dr.  C.  P.,  quoted,  156,  157. 

Hon.  (Jeorge,  quoted,  80. 
Bangs,  Rev.  Dr.  N.,  211. 
Banking,  374. 


752 


Index. 


Baptist  educational  institutions,  497. 

Publication  Board,  429,  430. 
Baptists  in  south-west,  397. 

English-speaking,  665. 

Free-will,  Origin  of,  394. 

in  whole  world,  730. 
Barnard,  Sir  John,  103. 
Barnes,  Rev.  Albert,  D.D.,  671. 
Bascom,  Rev.  Dr.  H.  B.,  466. 
Bath  rooms,  336. 
Baxter,  Richard,  quoted,  456. 
Beeclier,    Rev.    H.   W.,  quoted,  73,  90, 
117,  136,  148,  377. 

Rev.  Dr.  Lyman,  quoted,  106,  iii,  211, 

213- 
Beer  gardens,  362. 
Belgium,  Temperance  in,  306,  307. 
Belief,  Free,  457. 
Believed  too  much,  128. 
Bellows,  Rev.  Dr.  H.  W.,  24,  445. 
Bern  and  Wagner,  528. 
Benefactors  of  Western  Europe,  163. 
Benefices,  167. 

Benevolence,  Pecuniary,  437. 
Benson,  Bishop,  quoted,  181. 
Bertillon,  M.,  517. 
Bessarim,  65. 
Bible  distribution,  637,  etc. 

American  Society,  413,  641. 

Cavils  at,  197. 

Eliot's,  205. 

emerging   from  conflicts   with   scien- 
tists, 131. 

epochs,  638. 

given  away,  421,  430. 

imported  from  Scotland,  205. 

in  ninety  years,  641. 

inspired,  126. 

interpretation  modified,  120. 

King  James's  Version,  639. 

language,  641,  642,  666. 

rare,  205. 

Statistics  of  the,  640. 

The,  and  progress,  456. 

the  sure  resting  place,  159. 

the  true  guide,  128. 
Biddle,  John,  77. 

Bishops,  Ignorant  and  vicious,  167,  172. 
Bismarck,  quoted,  539. 
Black  Death,  334. 
Blackwood's  Magazine,  103,  186. 
Blair's  Sermons,  387. 
Blasphemy,  186. 
Blind,  The,  345. 
Bliss  and  Sankey,  498. 
Blount,  6g. 
Blue  Book,  628. 
Bocaccio,  275. 
Bodin,  John,  66. 
Bolingbroke,  Lord,  84. 
Booth's  Study  of  London,  325. 
Bosses,  Political,  326,  358. 
Boston  churches,  120. 

city  missions,  409,  etc. 

Journal,  247,  254,  259,  372. 

North  End,  500. 


Boston  Progress,  369. 

Recorder,  293. 

Traveller,  236. 
Botta,  Professor  Vincens,  64. 
Bowditch,  Dr.,  299. 
Bowdoin  College,  Infidelity  in,  107. 
Bowen,  Professor,  134. 
Boyce,  Rev.  W.  B.,  614. 
Bradford,  Dr.,  quoted,  iii. 
Brainerd,  Rev.  David,  398. 
Breckenridge,  Colonel,  251. 
Briber)',  182,  183. 
Briggs,  George  N.,  298. 
British  Empire  and  colonies,  657. 

and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  640. 

Companion   and  Almanac,    339,  345, 
420. 

Isles  Church,  Statistics  of,  718,  etc. 

Isles,  Intemperance  in,  303. 

Society,  276. 
Britons  of  two  thousand  years  ago,  490. 
Brooklyn  Polytechnic  Institute,  158. 
Brooks,  Rev.  Phillips,  quoted,  154. 
Brotherhood,  Principle  of,  345. 
Brotherhoods,  Papal,  611. 
Brown,  Sir  Thomas,  69. 
Bruno,  Giodano,  71. 
Bruta  fuhnina^  54. 
Buckle's  History,  23,  516. 
Buel.  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel,  404. 
Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor,  270. 
Burgess,  Bishop,  quoted,  loi. 
Burgher  class.  Rise  of,  56. 
Burke,  Hon.  Edmund,  347. 
Burnett,  Bishop,  385. 
Burr,  Aaron,  199,  287,  484. 
Bute,  Marquis  of,  663. 
Butler,  Bishop,  quoted,  95,  103,  389. 
Byron,  Lord,  compared  with  Tennyson, 
249. 


Calhoun,  Rev.  G.  A.,  quoted,  322. 
Calvinism  modified,  124. 
Calvinist,  Whitefield  a,  394. 
Calvin's  Institutes,  124. 
Campanello,  Thomas,  79. 
Canals,  Wages  on,  329. 
Capacity  to  consume,  354. 
Capital  crimes.  347. 
Capital,  Growth  of.  331. 

The  men  of,  376. 
Cardan  us,  71. 

Card  parties  on  Sunday,  384. 
Carlyle,  T.,  quoted,  510. 
Carmina  Sacra,  498. 
Carpets,  rare  in  1800,  323. 
Carroll,  H.  K.,  LL.D.,  575. 
Cartesians  in  Holland,  81. 
Cartwright,  Rev.  P..  quoted,  202. 
Casuistry,  Schools  of,  165. 
Categorical    imperative    of   the    moral 

law,  135. 
Cathay,  477. 
Catholic  marriages,  235. 


Index. 


753 


Catholic  Mirror,  qvioted,  325,  344,  592. 

Telecraph,  Quoted,  581. 

'rolal  Abstinence  Union,  302. 

World,  quoted,   22,  541,  580,  581,  645. 
Causative,  A,  connection,  130. 
Causes,  Economic,  329. 
Celibacy  violated,  172. 
Celt,  The,  quoted,  586,  etc. 
Census  of  Australia,  627. 

of  United  States,  1890,  ^50. 

"         "  "       quoted,  314. 

517-  .       , 

Central  ideas  in  doctrines  retained,  126. 
Century,  the  most  Christian,  455. 
Chandler,   Hon.   W.  E.,   on   the  rights 

of  Negroes,  329. 
Change  in  philosophy  of  religion,  116. 
Changes  between     Huss    and     Luther, 
i6g. 

in  doctrine,  89. 
Channing,  Rev.  Dr.  W.  E.,  26,  140. 
Charities,  The  great,  440. 

New,  345. 
Charles  "11,  Debauched  court  of,  192. 

Evils  flowing  from,  393. 

Religion  under  Law,  385. 
Chastity  and  divorce,  230-245. 
Chauncey,  Rev.  Dr.  C,  no. 
Chesterfield.  Lord,  on  gambling,  180. 

unfilial  conduct,  186. 
Chicago,  Divorces  in,  236. 

half-foreign,  342. 

strikes,  340. 
Tribune,  quoted,  226. 
Children  and   temperance  in  Germany, 

.    307-       . 

in  coal  mines,  311. 

in  factories,  311. 
Chillingworth,  77. 
Chimney  sweeps,  311. 
China,  Changes  in,  669. 

Criminals  in,  478. 

Missions  in,  619,  620. 
Choate,  Hon.  Rufus,  quoted,  371. 
Christ  in  art,  493. 

divine,  recognition  of,  136. 

in  literature,  492. 

Life  of,  by  Neander,  151. 

portrayed  as  a  culprit,  125. 

I'estimony  to,  by  Renan  and  Schel- 
ling,  136. 

The  modern,  351. 
Christendom,  Map  of,  enlarged,  151. 
Christian  Advocate,  The,  quoted,   152, 
250.  253-256.  264.  635,  374. 

conduct  low.  Standard  of,  400. 

Educator,  quoted,  227,  228. 

Endeavor  Society.  505. 

E.\aminer,  quoted,  131. 

governments,   population  under,  654, 
etc. 

Retrospect  and  Register,  615. 

standard  advancing,  148. 

Thcist,  A.,  131. 
Christ  i.mity  advancing,  510. 

a  failure,  19,  20,  etc. 


Christianity  and  civilization,  570,  etc. 
among  industrious  peoples,  351. 
and  Modern  Thought,  43. 
and  the  masses,  499. 
an  increasing  force,  454-510. 

A  pany  organized  to  destroy,  201. 
apologetic,  153. 
applied,  500. 

a  propagandism,  514. 

corrupted,  457. 

emerging  from  a  period  of  darkness, 
119. 

Evangelical,  New  voyage  of,  152. 

Faith  in,  by  scientists,  132. 

fictitious,  103. 

dains  of,  650. 

has  wrought  upon  her  enemy,  150. 

in   England,  385,  394. 

its  foes  borrowing  from  it,  150. 

losing  nothing   by   its   modifications, 
127. 

makes  no  great  concessions,  157. 

newly  vindicated,  142. 

not  waning.  446. 

now  better  understood,  458. 

Progress  of,  645,  etc. 

reduced  to  the  lowest  terms,  105. 

relative  progress  of,  520. 

Statistics  of,  in  the  world,  64c ,  etc. 

Tutelage  of,  378. 

Unchanged  by  changes,  go. 

Working  doctrines  ot,  127. 
Christians  in  India,  625. 

Unity  and  diversity  among,  137. 
Chublis,  84. 

thunder  Sen,  quoted,  630. 
Church  Almanac,  415,  419. 

attendance,  213. 

discipline  in  New  England,  203. 

gives  motives,  125. 

Missionarj-  Intelligencer,  651. 

of  England,  its  evangelical  party,  395. 

of  Rome  imbecile,  49. 

property.  Value  of,  571. 

sittings,  567. 

The  Mediaival,  its  service,  163,  164. 
Churches,  Costly,  361. 

dissenting,  in  low  state,  187. 

Empty,  27. 

in    American    colonies,   condition   of, 
390,  etc. 

in  Hoston,  422. 

in    Great    Britain,  Low  condition  of, 

in  New  Jersey,  low,  390. 

in  New  York,  low,  390. 

in  Virginia,  low.  390. 

multiplying  in  West.  416. 

National,  of  United  States,  168. 

not  built  by  carpentry,  515. 

of  Maryland,  low,  390. 

of  Massachusetts.  399. 

organizations,  edifices,  etc.,  in  United 

States.  1850-1890,  6^6-703. 
organized  by  home  missions,  428. 
organized  in  United  States,  560. 


754 


Index. 


Churches,  The,  and  the  cities,  713. 
valleys  of  dry  bones,  393. 
with  new  power,  211. 
Churchman,  The,  quoted,  502. 
Cities,   Advantages  of,  355. 
Aggregates  of  virtue  in,  263. 
and  aggressive  Christianity,  365. 
and  commerce,  356. 
and  crime,  263. 
and  the  churches,  713. 
centers  of  evil  forces,  355,  360. 
centers  of  good  forces,  366. 
Concentrated  vices  of.  355,  660. 
congestions  of  population,  354. 
Evangelization  of,  363,  366,  419,  etc., 

503,  etc. 
fed  by  rural  towns,  356. 
Hot-bed  fermentation  in,  219. 
in  United  States,  355. 
in  United  States,  Progress  of,  in  fifty 

years,  366. 
Provision  for  churches  in,  422. 
Radiating  centers  of,  354. 
Rise  of,  55. 
unfortunate,  341,  etc. 
Civil    government   and    large    business 
enterprises,  344. 
government  and  Christianity,  460. 
life.  Ideals  of,  376. 
recognition  of  religion,  463. 
Civilization,  A  leading  problem  of,  354. 
and  Christianity,  507-510. 
Pagan,  478. 
Progress  of,  331. 
Civita  Catholica,  580. 
Clark,  Dr.  R.  H.,  582. 
Clarkson,  Thomas,  476. 
Classes  of  paupers,  325,  etc. 
Classics,  Greek  and  Roman,  56. 
Clay,  Hon.  Henry,  484. 
Clergy ,_  English,  ignorans,  386. 

exercising  divine  prerogatives,  165. 
immoral,  164,  i88,  195. 
intemperate,  400. 
made  inquisitors,  165. 
under  dominion  of  Satan,  168. 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  described  in  1803,  202. 
Cloisters,  Purity  in,  380. 
Coal-pits,  Women  and  children  in,  311. 
Codes,  Penal,  348. 
Coke,  Rev.  Thomas,  LL.D.,  611. 
Colleges  and  the  Churches,  466. 
and  the  Evangelical  Churches,  115. 
by  whom  founded,  465. 
in  United  States,  114. 
Religious  status  of,  475. 
Roman  Catholic  and  Protestant,  471. 
students  religious,  474,  475. 
Colliers  and  salters,  222. 
Collins,  84. 
Colonies  under  Christian  governments, 

657. 
Colportage  organized,  etc.,  428. 
Coliiuhoun,  Mr,,  263. 
"Come-outer"    wing    of  Abolitionists, 
215. 


Commerce  and  cities,  356; 

Common  soil  of  humanity  plowed  and 

planted,  443. 
Communicants,  267. 
of  Evangelical  Churches  in  the  United 

States,  574,  etc.,  600,  etc. 
Communistic  societies,  232. 
Comparative  religions,  140. 
Complete  Preacher,  The,  quoted,  27. 
Comstock,  Anthony,  248. 


Comte,  tjuoted,  130,  516 
"  '        of  Lib* 

139 


Concessions  c 


leralists  to  Orthodoxy, 


Concordat,  The,  533. 
Concubinage  of  priests,  164. 
Conditions  of  progress  in  United  States, 

Confession     of    Huxley  and    Spencer, 
156. 
of  Strauss,  145. 
Confessional,  History  of,  165. 
Confidence,  New,  133. 
Conflicts  of  theology  and  science,  92. 
Congregational  Association   of   Massa- 
chusetts, 203. 
minister,  A  young,  in  Boston,  124. 
Congregationalist,    The.    quoted,    357, 

364,  486. 
Congregationalists,      English-speaking, 
665. 
in  all  the  world,  731. 
Congregations,  Small,  388. 
Connecticut,  Divines  in,  232. 

The  Sabbath  in,  213. 
Conscience,  More  and  better,  485. 
Consciousness,  Double,  150. 

The  world's,  455,  etc. 
Conservative  and  progressive,  125. 
Conserving  forms  wanting  in  the  United 

States,  43. 
Constance,  Council  of,  168. 
Constantinople,  Capture  of,  56. 
Contemporary  Review,  The,  133. 
Contrast    between    Church    and  world, 

444  ■ 
Contributions    of    science   to    religious 

truth,  i2g. 
Converts  in  mission  stations,  644. 
Convictions,  Moral,  457. 
Corbett,  Rev.  Thomas,  193. 
Corinthians,  The,  159,  319. 
Corporal  punishment,  478. 
Corruption.  A  scent  for,  368. 
Prevailing,  187. 

working  downward,  in  English  soci- 
ety, 192. 
Cosmic  philosophy,  131. 
Cost  of  liquors  in  England,  303. 
Cf>venanters,  Children  of,  393. 
Crawford,  Rev.  Dr.  M.  D'C,  425. 
Creation,  A  new.  142. 

of  the  World,  126. 
Creative  periods,  126. 
Creator,  The,  131,  132,  160. 
Creed,  The  Apostles,  154. 
Creeds,  No  quarrel  with,  124. 


Index. 


755 


Creeds  losing  their  hold,  30. 

now  shorter  and  broader,  50. 

Traditionary,  50. 
Crime,  251-290. 

and  foreign  immigration,  257,  266. 

and  immorality,  178,  180. 

and  pauperism,  321. 

and  the  jury  system,  275. 

a  product  of  overwrought  civilization, 
261. 

before  the  Reformation,  174. 

condoned  by  officials,  253,  266. 

Data  of,  252. 

in  Christian  lands  the  worst,  290. 

in  cities,  253,  262. 

increase  more  apparent  than  le.il,  258. 

in  Europe,  274. 

in  France,  274. 

in  Great  Britain,  271-276. 

in  London,  262. 

in  Massachusetts,  270,  271,  283. 

in  New  York  city  in  1859,  218. 

in  periods  of  financial  straits,  265. 

in  rural  communities,  253. 

Native,  257. 

pauperism  and  illiteracy  diminishing 
in  England,  276,  277,  280. 

promoted  by  sensational  reports,  247, 
265. 

Statistics  of,  in  United  States,  imper- 
fect. 281. 
Criminal  statistics  defective,  252. 
Criminals,  Pious,  256. 

how  treated,  478. 
Critical  tests  of  progress,  455,  etc. 
Criticism,  21,  319,  368,  etc. 
Croker,  Richard,  358. 
Cromwell's  vigorous  regime^  176,  385. 
Crusaders,  302. 
Cudworth,  77. 
Culture,  New  era  of,  57. 
Cunningham,  Alva,  iiuoted,  201. 
Currents,  ebbs  and  flows,  210. 
Cusanus,  71. 

ID 

Dana,  Professor,  quoted,  132. 
"  Dance  of  Death,  '   The,  170. 
Dante,  86. 

Darkest  England,  502. 
Dark  period,  1780-1800,  406. 
Darwin,  C.  R.,  quoted,  635. 

Tribute  to,  160. 
Data  of  Crime,  252. 
D'Aubign^,  quoted,  167,  172. 
Deaconesses,  419,  505,  506. 
Deacons,  Drunken,  200,  201. 
Dead  orthodo.\y,  391. 
Deaf  and  dumb,  345. 
Death  rates  in  England,  338,  339. 
Debris  of  old  ideas,  311,  317. 
Debt,  Common,  323. 
Decadence  in  England,  383. 
Decorator's  Gazette,  quoted,  344. 
Defalcation,  356-358. 
De  Foes,  Captain  Jack,  249,  325. 


Deism,  65,  66,  84,  102. 
Deists  in  United  States,  386. 
Deity  of  Christ,  Gladstone  on,  137. 
Delevan,  Hon.  E.  C,  for  the  Sabbath, 

215,  216. 
Deliverance  from  bondage,  123. 
Demagogues  multiplied,  197. 
Demonology  of  the  Middle  Ages,  98. 
Denck,  John,  76. 
Denmark,  Temperance  in,  305. 
Departure  from  the  faith,  etc.,  204. 
Dependence  on  the  Divine,  141,  145. 
Depravity,  Calvinistic  view  of,  124. 

conceded,  126,  135. 
Derry  festival,  194. 
Descartes,  63,  72,  78,  79,  etc.,  138. 
Desperadoes,  202. 
Despotism  of  old  world,  340. 
Devonshire,  Duke  of,  gambling,  180. 
Dewey,  Rev.  Dr.  ().  H.,  140. 
Dexter,  Hon.  Samuel,  293. 
D'Holback,  149. 
Diderot,  defiant,  149. 
Dike,  Rev.  Dr.  S.  W.,  quoted,  236. 
Diogenes,  168. 
Disciples,  Name  of,  471. 
Discipline,  Church,  203,  461. 
Discourses  on  the  Prophecies,  by  Rev. 

Elhanan  Winchester,  126. 
Discrimination  needed,  209. 
Dispaw's  funeral,  193. 
Dissenters  heterodox,  104. 
Dissenting  churches  in  a  low  state,  187. 
Diversities  of  material  prosperity,  342. 
Divine  conditions  of  progress,  209. 
Divorce,  causes  of,  232,  236,  243. 

and  chastity,  230-245. 

Discriminations  in,  242,  etc. 

in  Chicago,  236. 

in  Connecticut,  232. 

in  Europe,  241. 

in  .Maine,  233. 

in  Massachusetts,  234. 

in  New  Hampshire,  233. 

in  Rhode  Island,  233. 

in  United  States,  700. 

in  Vermont,  233. 

in  the  West,  235. 

legislation,  232,  243. 

per  marriages,  242. 

statistics,  239. 

to  population,  238. 
Doctrine  of  depravity,  104,  135,  156. 

of  revelation,  135. 
Doddridge,  quoted,  497. 
Dogmatism,  20-50. 
Drainage,  336,337. 
Drams,  Public,  336. 
Drift  toward  freedom,  461,  663. 

of  religious  ideas,  89. 
Drinking  habit,  192,  193,  etc.,  294,  303, 
400. 

members,  200. 

mmisters,  400. 
Drunkenness  in  England,  186. 

cause  of  poverty,  324. 


756 


Index. 


Drunkenness  in  New  England,  193. 
no  bar  to  saintship,  187. 
the  most  striking  characteristic  of  the 
American  people,  200. 
Dudevant,  Madame,  250. 
Duelists    and    dueling,  248,    etc.,    308, 

310. 
Dunces  and  runaways,  243. 
Dunkards,  The,  345. 
Dwight,  Rev.  Timothy,  D.D.,  107,  232, 
317,  322. 

E> 

Eaton,  General,  467,  468. 
Ecclesiasticism,  Spirit  of,  380. 
Eckhart,  64,  71. 
Eckley,  Rev.  Dr.,  iii. 
Economic  problems,  329-332,  343. 
Ecumenical  Church  statistics,  727,  etc. 
Eddying  movements,  175. 
Eddystone  lighthouse,  48,  366. 
Educated  labor,  353. 
Education,    Higher,    of   Churches,  464- 
476. 

by  machinery,  465. 

popular  in  England,  279. 
Educational  institutions,  473,  474. 
Educator,  The  Christian,  227. 
Edwards,  Rev.  J.,  D.D.,  112,  194,  401. 

and  Weslej',  etc.,  396. 

Rev.  Justin,  D.D.,  215,  413. 
Eighteen    Centuries,   by     Rev.    James 

White,  quoted,  171. 
Ein  Bekenntniss,  145. 
Elections,  English,  corrupt,  181. 
Elfic  stage,  316. 
Eliot,  Rev.  John,  205,  610. 
Ely,  Professor  R.  T.,  344. 
Emancipation  in  West  Indies,  222. 

of  theology,  154. 
Emerson,  R.  W.,  131,  138. 
Emigration  from  New  England,  314. 
Empiricism.  84. 
Encyclical,  Papal,  340. 
Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  quoted,  271, 

276,  528,  542,  543,  672. 
England,  Rev.  Bishop,  quoted,  579,  585. 

after  the  Restoration,  264. 

Antitrinitarians  in,  77. 

before  the  Wesleyan  reformation,  176. 

Court  of,  corrupt,  188. 

escapes   the  contagion  of  the  French 
Revolution,  190. 
English  Church,  Popery  in,  545. 

language,  spread  of,  665,  666. 

law,  347. 

morals,  188,  310-313. 
Epicurean  philosophy,  57. 
Epidemics,  334,  393. 
Episcopalians  in  the  world,  665. 
Epochs,  Three,  of  science  and  the  Bible, 

134- 
Epworth  Leagues,  501,  505. 
Era  of  bad  feeling,  198-203. 

A  better,  211. 


Erasmus,  quoted,  172. 

Errancy  of  the  Bible,  128. 

Erskine,  312. 

Eschalology,  125. 

Espriella,  by  Southey,  quoted,  244. 

Established  Church,  The,  benefited  by 

Methodism,  190,  395. 
Estimate  of  progress,  369. 
Ethics,  486. 

and  Christianity,  140. 

practical,  349. 
Evangelical  Christianity  vindicated,  128, 

'44-  .       . 
Evangelization  of  cities,  363,  365. 
Kvarts,  Jeremiah.  413. 
Everett,  Professor,  351. 

churches  not  weakening,  116. 

movement  broad,  189. 

party  in  Church  of  England,  395. 
"  Evil  men  and  seducers,"  210. 

Aggregations  of,  366. 
Europe,    Northern,   and    the    Papacy, 
382. 

before  the  Lutheran  Reformation,  163. 

Population  of,  prior  to  1500,  527. 
Ewer,  Rev.   F.  C,  D.D.,  22,  25,  27,  36, 

47.'  »74-    ,       ,      , 
Experimental  task  of  Protection,  41. 
E.xploration,  612. 
Extortions,  New  method  of,  166. 
Extravagances  of  the  Papal  court,  166. 
Extremes  in  revolutions,  85. 


Factors,  new,  60,  78. 

liberating,  63,  etc. 
Fair,  The  World's,  341. 
Faith,  bondage  of,  47. 

a  necessity,  100. 

by  eminent  scientists,  132. 

Dogmatic,  modified,  459. 

Dubious,  115. 

Empire  of,  extended,  147. 

firm  in  God,  160. 

Hesitation  about,  95. 

increasing,  148,  459. 

in  the  Middle  Ages,  445. 

No  decay  of,  147,  459. 

Old,  in  new  light,  134. 

Relations  of,  to  philosophy,  etc.,  133. 

rooted  in  God,  144. 

small,  16. 

springing  from  larger  knowledge,  155. 

True,  445. 
Fallacies,  Old,  exposed,  316. 
Family,  State  of,  improved,  244,  245. 
Farraday,  132. 

Fashicjnable  life  foul  and  coarse,  184. 
Fast  days.  Numerous,  406. 
Fatalism,  19. 
Fathers,  The,  57. 
Fault-finding  the  luxury  of  some  minds, 

209. 
Federal  Party,  The,  199. 

Constitution,  Debates  on,  igS. 


Index. 


757 


Feeble  persons,  Death  of,  353. 
Fees  of  jailer>,  348. 
Ferri,  Professor,  275. 
Ferusac's  Bulletin,  649. 
Feudalism,  Decline  of,  55,  ijo. 
Ficinus,  65. 
F'iji  Islands,  642. 

Filthy  condition  of  Kngland,  336. 
Finality,  Protestantism  and,  38. 
Financial  Reform  Almanac,  276,  278. 
Finland,  Temperance  in,  305. 
Finlay,  Rev.  Dr.,  397. 
Fire  and  brimstone  discarded,  126. 
Fisher,  Professor,  quoted,  67,  74. 
Fisk,  Professor  John,  quoted,  131. 
Rev.  Mr.,  of   New   Braintree,  Mass., 
417. 
Flagellants,  The,  170. 
"  F'leet  marriages,"  180. 
Flogging,  310. 
Food  of  the  poor,  337. 

of  prisoners  sold,  348. 
Forces  facing  us,  452. 
Foreign  Missionary  Societies,  The  first, 
613. 
parentage,  315. 
population   and   home  missions,    362, 

428. 
population  in  New  England,  315. 
Forgery,  256-258. 

Fortnightly  Review,  quoted,  163,  329. 
Forum,  The,  quoted,  274. 
Foulness  of  Moore  and  Byron,  249. 
France,  Struggles  of,  461. 
and  colonies,  658. 
Temperance  in,  307. 
Francis,  Dr.,  quoted,  336. 
Franklin,  Dr.  Benjamin,  670. 
Fraud,  376. 

Freedom  of  opinion,  460,  461. 
Free  inquiry  regarded,  80. 
inquiry,  its  source,  80. 
inquiry.  Mission  of,  82. 
inquiry  over-ruled,  83. 
inquiry  perverted,  84. 
Free  Italian  Church,  535. 

thinkers  in  clubs,  102. 
Freeman's  Journal,  585. 
"  Free  Religion."  114,  146. 
Freethinkers  among  young  clergymen, 

105. 
French  and  Indian  wars,  ig6,  398,  399. 
infidelity,  etc.,  230. 
Revolution,  612. 
Revolution  held  back  in  England  by 

Methodism,  igo. 
woman,  .\  representative,  250. 
Frere,  Sir  I'.artle's  testimony,  629. 
Friend  of  India,  quoted,  630. 
Frivolity  among  children  of  Covenant- 
ers, 393. 
Frothingham,  Rev.  O.  B.,  26,  100,  146. 
Froude,  James  .A.,  30,  509. 
Functions,  Spiritual,  assumed,  380. 
Funeral  customs  in  Old  New  England, 
193. 


Gains  of  Protestantism,  662. 
Gambling,  Passion  for,  180. 
"  (iang  rule,"  357. 
(larabaldi,  quoted,  533. 
Clarfield,  President,  463,  488. 
(larments  given  away,  421. 
(lassendi,  68,  6g,  84. 
Gavazzi,  Rev.  Father,  quoted,  534. 
General  Association  of  Massachusetts, 
399. 

Assembly   of    Presbyterian    Church, 
quoted,  404. 

Conference  of  Foreign  Missions,  C2j. 
George  1 1 ,  Reign  of,  190. 
German  Catholic  Year-Book,  580. 

Empire  and  colonies,  657. 

thinkers  and  St.  Paul,  143. 
Germany  and  the  Papacy,  537. 

Invaders  from,  364. 

New  theology  in,  142. 

Temperance  in,  306. 
Germs  of  revealed  religion,  135. 
Gibbons,  Cardinal,  quoted,  591. 
Gibson,  Rev.  Bishop,  quoted,  102. 
Gillet,  Rev.  Dr.,  quoted,  391. 
Gin  sickness  in  England,  181. 
Giving,  437. 
Gladden,  Rev.  W.,  373. 
Gladstone,  Hon.  W.  E.,  quoted,  117. 
"  Gloria  in  Excelsis,"  The,  495. 
Glorification  of  the  past,  205. 
Godwin's  Political  Justice,  quoted,  108, 

335- 
Golden  Age,  369. 
Goodness  ridiculed,  186. 
Gospel,  The,  not  a  negation,  99. 
Gottingen,  142. 
Governments,   Civil,  and  Christianity, 

460,  etc. 
Grace,  Irresistible,  124. 
Graduates  of  Harvard  College,  120. 
Grand  Seignior,  660. 
Great  Awakening,  The,  401. 
Great  Britain's  acquisition  of  territory, 

664. 
Great  evils.  Growth  of,  251. 
Great  Mogul,  The,  660. 
Greek   Church,   The,    under  Christian 

governments,  655,  656. 
classics,  56. 

gain  in  Europe,  528,  etc. 
scholars  in  Italy,  56. 
Greeks  sad  knaves,  261. 
Green,  Rev.   Dr.   Ashbel  and   revivals, 

404. 
Greene,  Professor  of  Oxford,  ifs.   Mill's 

logic,  133. 
Green  s  History  of  England,  476,  480. 
Grenville,  George,  183. 
Griffin,  Rev.   Dr.   E.   D.,  and   revivals, 

III ,  404,  410. 
Growth  of  Churches,  449. 
Guthrie,  Rev.  Dr.,  quoted,  367. 
Guyot,  Professor,  quoted,  132. 


758 


Index. 


Habeas  Corpus,  462. 

Habits  of  business,  374. 

Hale,  Rev.  E.  E..  LL.D.,  quoted,  288 

,,     324-  339- 

Hales  of  Eaton,  quoted,  77. 

Half  Century   Discourse,  by  Rev.  Mr 
Fisk,  417. 

Half  truths,  138,  149. 

Half-way  Covenant,  392,  399. 

Hall,  G.  Stanley,  quoted,  156. 

Hall,  Tammany,  358. 

Hallam's   Literature   of   Middle  Ages 
quoted,  65,  67,  75,  163,  165. 

Hamilton,  Dr.,  quoted,  388. 

Hand-book  of  London  Charities,  quoted, 
346. 

Hapsburg,  House  of,  declining,  667. 

Hard  lots,  324. 

Hargrave,  quoted,  479. 

Harris,  Dr.,  quoted,  456,  457. 

Hartman,  quoted,  129,  135,  138. 

Harvard  Advocate,  quoted,  120. 

Harvard  College,  Religion  in,  120,  467. 
Arianism  in,  404. 

Hase's  History,  quoted,  65,  76. 

Hawaiian  Churches,  644. 

Hawks,  Rev.  Dr.,  quoted,  195. 
Haygood,  Rev.  Bishop,  quoted,  229. 

Hay-stacks,  Under  the,  412. 

Heart-needs  conserve  truth,  98. 

Hecker,  Rev.  L  T.,  81,  579. 

Hedding,  Rev.  Bishop  E.,  211. 

Hedge,  Rev.  Dr.  F.  H.,  139,  140. 

Hegel,  96. 

Heidelberg,  Skeptical,  152. 

Hcinholtz,  quoted,  130. 

Helvetius,  144. 

Herbert,  69,  84. 

Heresy,  Treatment  of,  461. 

Herrman,  Dr.  W.,  143. 

Herschel.  Sir  John,  132,  159. 

Hervey,  Lord,  184. 

Heterodo.xy,  Queer  standard  of,  187. 

Hicksite  movement.  The,  no. 

Hierarchy,  Exclusive,  382. 

Higher  criticism,  127. 

Highway  robbery,  484. 

Hindu  testimony,  634. 

History  of  the  United  States,  Bancroft. 

quoted,  80. 
Hitzer,  76. 
Hoadley,  78. 
Hobbes,  69,  84,  269. 
Hoffman's    Roman   Catholic  Almanac, 

575.  582. 
Holinshed  Chronicles,  335. 
Holy  Scriptures  better  understood,  128. 
Holy    Spirit    the   efficient    agent,    127, 

412. 
Home-life  sweetened,  245. 
Home  Missions,  Baptists,  429,  430. 

labors  of,  428,  431. 
Homicides  under  slavery,  225,  226. 
Honor,  standard  improved,  187,  189. 


Hopkins,  Bishop,  History  of  the  Con- 
fessional, 165. 
Horeb,  16. 
Hospitals,  338,  345. 

Moslem,  508. 
Hot-beds  of  infidelity,  404. 
Hours  of  labor  reduced,  312. 
Howard,  John,  275,  348. 

Society,  of  London,  559. 
"  How  long,  O  Lord,"  229. 
Hubner's  statistical  tables,  528. 
Hughes,  Archbishop.  21,  579,  585. 
Humane  laws,  311,  312. 

spirit  of  Christ,  345. 
Humanists,  School  of,  66. 
Humanitarian  views,  136. 
Humanity  developing,  461. 
Hume,  David,  quoted,  84,  479,  611. 

and  Paley  agree,  104. 
Humphrey,  Rev.  Dr.  H.,  211,  410,  413. 
Huntington's,    Rev.    Dr.,    doctrine   of 

"  death  and  glory,"  no. 
Hurst,  Rev.  Bishop  J.  F.,  LL.D.,  quo- 
ted, 152. 
Husk  and  kernel,  123. 
Huxam's  tincture,  294. 
Huxley,  Professor,  132. 
Hypertrophy,  149. 
Hypotheses,  Three,  21. 


Ideals  of  civilized  life,  376,  458. 

of  the  family,  377. 
Ideas  differed  abroad,  461. 

Driftof,  89. 

Old,  inadequate,  98. 
Idiotic,  The,  345. 
Ignorance  of  English  clergy,  386. 
Illinois,  Government  of,  pardoning  an- 
archists, 341. 
Illuminciti,  Clubs,  in  Virginia,  202. 
Immigrants,  Roman  Catholic,  557,  584. 
Immigration,  212,  485. 

1790-1894,  708,  709. 
Immorality   in   last   century,    196,    197, 
205. 

in  dissenting  sects,  188. 

in  literary  circles,  197. 

of  clergy,  164,  187. 

Picture  of,  201. 
Immortality     doctrine     confirmed     by 

great  names,  137,  138. 
Imperfections  of  Protestantism,  38. 

in  laborers,  441. 
"  Impostors,  The  Three,"  66. 
Improvement      in       Australia,     South 

America,  and  Mexico,  378. 
Impulse  to  philanthropy,  192. 
Impunity  purchased,  166. 
Impure  papers,  246. 
Imputation  of  sin,  124. 
Increase  of  population  in  England,  ^31. 
Indecent  songs,  313. 
Independent,  The,  quoted,  30,  100,  287, 
324,  359. 


Index. 


759 


Independent     States    under    Christian 

governments,  745. 
Index,  The.  quoted,  106. 
India,  Population  of,  661. 

Missions  in,  624,  630,  631. 

Statistics  of  population  in,  625. 
Indian  seer,  15. 
Indians,  College  for,  398. 

Lawless,  399. 
Indications  hopeful,  152,  153. 
Indulgences  an  evil  system,  166,  174. 
Industrial  villages  in  Kngland,  502. 
Infidelity  in  French  colonies,  399. 

and  song,  494. 

beaten,  100. 

Hot-beds  of,  201,  202,  203. 

Improvement  in,  371. 

in  liowdoin  College,  107. 

in  liierarj-  circles,  197. 

in  Princeton  College,  107. 

in  Tran--ylvania  University,  107. 

intriguing,  399. 

in  the  ministry,  387. 

in  the  United  Stales,  107-110. 

in  William  and  .Mary  College,  107. 

in  Yale  College,  107. 

more  rational,  149. 

not  so  confident,  133. 

strong,  6n. 
Infidel  literature,  113,  612. 
Ingersollisni,  342. 
Inner  life.  The,  40. 
Inquiry,  Spirit  of,  97. 
Inquisitorial  examinations  giving  way, 

50- 
Insanity,  487,  etc. 
Inspiration,  91,  126,  128. 
Institutional  work,  497-507. 
Insubordination  sentiments,  196. 
Intellect,  Hold  upon,  114. 
Intemperance,  293-308. 

an  alarming  evil,  200. 

Vice  of,  481. 
International  arbitration,  378. 
Interpretation,  Biblical,  modified,  126. 
Inventions  subsidized.  612. 
Ireland,  Temperance  in,  308. 
Irish  population  in  New  York  city,  219. 
Ishmaelilish  prnsperily,  324. 
Italian  republic.  Knavery  in,  261. 
Italy  and  its  colonies,  659. 

Temperance  in,  307. 


Jackson,  Hon.  Andrew,  484. 

Rev.  Lewis  E.,  425. 
Jailers,  how  remunerated,  348. 
Japan,  Mission  statistics  of,  ('26. 

students  in  United  States,  645. 
Jarratt,  Rev.  Devereux,  202. 
Jefferson,  Hon.  Thomas,  197. 
Jesuit  missions  aided.  614. 
Jesup.  Hon.  Morris  K.,  425. 
Jews,  36. 


Johnston,    Hon.    R.    M.,  and  Sabbath 

mails,  214. 
Jordan,  David  Starr,  LL.D.,on  poverty, 

3^5-      .      . 
Judicial  blinding  and  hardening,  289. 
Julian,  Influence  of,  64. 
Julius  11,  Pope,  172. 
Junius,  Robert,  610. 
Jury  system  badly  worked,  275. 
Justification,    Doctrine    of,    discarded, 

39?- 
Juvenile  Temperance  Society,  304. 


k: 

Kalendar  of  English  Church,  615. 

Kalmuck,  652. 

Kansas  perfidy.  The,  224. 

Kant,  Immanuel,  quoted,  128,  130. 

Kant's  philosophy,  128,  129. 

quoted,  135,  138. 
Keane,  Professor  A.  H.,  650,  651. 
Kent,  Chancellor,  quoted,  to6. 
Kentucky,  Low  morals  of,  202. 
Kimball,  Rev.  J.  C,  quoted,  290. 
Kingdom  of  Cod,  discarded,  342. 
King's  Daughters,  505. 
Knowledge,  growth  of,  154. 
Ku-Klux,The,  bill,  226. 
Kurtz's   Church    History,   quoted,    66, 
128,  135. 


Labor  necessary,  351. 

and  wages,  353. 

Division  of.  350. 

question.  The  Pope  on,  340. 
Laborers,  Better  condition  of,  322. 

Imperfect,  441. 

W  ayside,  441. 
Laddie,  Rev.  Dr.,  Revivals  under,  404. 
Ladies,  Profane,  312. 
Lafayette,  Gen.,  received  public  honors 

(m  Sunday,  214. 
Lange,  F.  A.,  D.D.,  quoted.  69. 
Language,  The  English,  664,  665. 
Languages  spoken,  665. 

and  missions,  633. 
Lash,  Punishment  by,  3T0. 
Law,  Charles    Henrj-,  quoted,  274,  275, 

276. 
Law  of  rebound,  316. 
Lawlessness  in  London,  178. 
Lawrence,  Lord,  testimony,  629. 
Laws,  Alleviating,  311. 

better  obeyed,  287. 

contempt  for,  204. 

few  among  the  Turks,  462. 
Lay  activities,  400,  403,  418. 
Learning,  Revival  of,  57. 
Leaven  working,  445. 
Lecky,  quoted,   104,  105,  178,  180,  182, 

185,  189,  191,  388,  395,  509,  510. 
Legge,  Rev.  Dr.,  quoted,  619,  620. 


760 


Index. 


Legislative    Committee  of  New    York, 

Report  uf,  253. 
Leibnitz,  quoted,  79,  138. 
Leighton,  Archbishop,  quoted,  385. 
Leipsic,  Evangelical,  152. 
Leland,  quoted,  389. 
Leopold  Propaganda,  614. 
Le  Vayer,  68. 
Lexow  Committee,  359. 
Liberal  churches,  35,  36,  99. 

Christian,  (juoted,  51/^. 
Liberalism  does  not  satisfy,  100. 
Liberation  from  arbitrary  systems,  123. 
Liberty,  Personal,  462. 
Libraries,  Public,   often  pander   to  low 

tastes,  248. 
Licentiousness,   Gross,  in  the  last  cent- 
ury, 230. 

in  court  of  Charles  IT,  177. 

in  early  New  England,  194-197. 
Life,  Length  of,  333. 

sacrificed,  J47. 

.saving  stations,  448. 
Light,  Resisted,  depraves,  289. 
"  Light,  The,  Is  it  Waning,"  94,  150. 
Lipsius,  68. 
Liquors,  Alcoholic,  323,  711,  712. 

Cost  of,  in  England,  303. 

fictitiou.s,  300. 

Statistics  of,  297,  299,  303,  307. 
Litchfield,  Bishop,  quoted,  179. 
Literature,  Bad,  186,  245-251. 

and  Christ,  492. 

E.xpurgated  editions,  249. 

of  R.ome,  56. 
Liturgy,  P^nglish,  159. 
Liverpool,  Wealth  of,  480. 
Living  well,  The  art  of,   351. 
Locke,  John,  79. 
Logic  of  the  reforms,  457. 
Logos  theory.  The,  136. 
London,  births  and  deaths,  325. 

Crime  in,  262. 

ill  lit,  178. 

Independent,  quoted,  142. 

Missionary  Society,  613. 
Londonderry,  N.  H.,  Drinking  habits  of, 

194. 
Longevity.  333-339. 

in  British  Isles,  490. 

increasing,  489. 
Losses  by  fraud  small,  376. 

of  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  United 
States,  585,  etc. 
Luther,  26,  173,  496. 

and  Descartes,  80. 

his  own  priest,  80. 

posts  his  theses,  76. 
Lutheran  Reformation,  Eve  of,  380,  etc. 
Lutherans,  English-speaking,  665. 
Lynchings,  Statistics  of,  226,  etc. 

accounted    for   by    Senator    Morgan, 
Bishop  Haygood,  etc.,  228,  229. 

Apologies  for,  227.    , 

Causes  of,  228. 
Lyons  Propaganda,  614. 


Macaulay,  T.  B.,  quoted,  53. 

Machiavelli,  65. 

Machinery  and  morals,  349-359. 

Mackenzie,  Robert,  348,  641,  642. 

Mackeson,  Charles,  quoted,  420. 

Mackintosh,  480. 

Madagascar,  480,  533,  634,  642,  643. 

Madisun,  Bishop,  212. 

Magazine,  Blackwood's,  quoted,  388. 

Magna  Charta,  462. 

Maguire,  Hon.  J.  F.,  580. 

Maine  laws,  298. 

Maine,  Professor,  quoted,  456. 

Makemie,  Francis,  312,  390,  391. 

Malt  liquors,  300. 

Make  Brun,  520,  650. 

Mammon,  by  Dr.  Harris,  437. 

Manhood,  A  vigorous  type  of,  205. 

Manners  in  England,  192. 

Barbarous,  188. 
Man's  lost  condition,  136. 
Marburg  University,  142, 
Mariners,  506. 

iSIark,  Signing  by,  in  England,  280. 
Marlborough,    Lord,    The  triumph  of, 

480. 
Martineau,  Rev.  James,  quoted,  510. 
Maryland  churches   in   low  condition, 

390. 
Massachusetts  revivals,  383. 

Bible  Society,  158. 

Crime  in,  270,  271. 

Society  Suppression  of  Intemperance, 

393- 
Masses,  T  he,  and  Protestantism,  26. 
Material  prosperity,  56. 
Materialism,  Day  of,  has  passed,  133. 

cannot  console,  144,  145. 
Materialistic  basis  of  life,  145. 
Mather,  Rev.  Increase,  quoted,  392. 

Rev.  Cotton,  quoted,  393. 
Matrons  inclosed  in  barrels,  178. 
Max  Miiller,  quoted,  507. 
Mayo,  Rev.  A.  D.,  D.D.,  quoted,  288. 
McCarty,  Justin,  quoted,  309. 
McClintock    and   Strong  s   Cyclopedia, 

668. 
McCook     Dr.,   exposes  the  fallacies  of 

Mill,  133. 
McCrie,  quoted,  75. 
McLaughlin.  Hugh,  358. 
McQuaid,  Bishop,  582. 
Meade,  Rev.  Bishop,  D.D.,  quoted,  106. 

on  low  morals  in  Virginia,  195. 

on  the  Sabbath.  212. 

sketches,  quoted,  202. 
Mechanism,  The  bed  rock  of,  349. 
Mediseval  age,  its  architecture,  163. 

Church  and  learning,  163. 

Romanism  in,  666. 

scandals,  167. 

tyranny,  164. 
Medici,  Halls  of  the,  56. 
Medicine,  Modification  of,  149. 


Index. 


761 


Melanchthon,  58,  76.  I 

Memorial  volume  of  Park  Street  Church, 

Boston,  417. 
Methodism,  35. 

Activity  of,  401. 

Colleges  of,  466,  473. 

Influence  of,  in  Established  Church, 
190. 

in  whole  world,  665,  732. 

Quarterly  Review,  522,  523,  651. 

Rise  of,  190. 

Theology  not  Socinian,  112. 
Metropolitan  Catholic  Almanac,  579. 
Mexico,   Roman   Catholic   Church    in, 

547- 
Middle  Ages,  Ideas  of,  98. 
Miller,  Chief  Justice,  quoted,  286. 
Mill's  logic,  lalhicies  of,  133. 
Ministers  of  the  Gospel,  375. 
Immoral  and  drunken,  187,  200. 
in  United  Slates,  593. 
Missions,  Activity  in,  152. 
a  failure,  20. 
and  civilization,  630. 
and  languages,  633. 
and  science,  623. 
City,  419,  etc.,  503,  etc. 
denounced,  603. 
Foreign,  609-646. 
Foreign,    among    the     Indians,  683, 

687. 
Foreign,  by  Moravians,  383. 
Foreign,  Embryo  of,  413. 
Foreign,  E.xtent  of,  617,  618. 
Foreign,  Melanesian  and  Polynesian, 

643,  644. 
Foreign,  of  Europe  and  United  States, 

in  1830,  736. 
Foreign,  of  Europe  and  United  States, 

in  1850,  738. 
Foreign,  of  Europe  and  United  States, 

in  1880,  739. 
Foreign,  statistics  of  India,  624,  625. 
Foreign,  statistics  of  Japan,  626. 
Foreign,  of  United  States,  1850,  735. 
Foreign,  of  United  States,  1880,  736. 
funds,  614,  615,  616,617,  706. 
Home,  413,  426,  427,  428. 
in  infancy,  609. 
M'A11,S37. 

Papal  and  Protestant,  614. 
results,  637. 

societies  in  England,  Origin  of,  395. 
societies,  'l"he  first,  613. 
vindicated,  628. 
Mistresses  of  English  kings,  185. 
Modern  philosophy,  78. 
Modifications  in  medicine,  149. 
of  theological  statement,  123. 
Mohawks,  178. 
Monarchy.  A  new  kind.  357.  _ 
Money  not  the  most  potent  tie,  191. 

Purchasing  power  of,  715. 
Monopolies,  Railroad.  34^. 
Montague,  Lady,  quoted.  177. 
Montesquieu,  quoted,  103. 

49 


Moody,  Rev.  D.  L.,  459. 
Moral  ideas  changing,  316. 

interregnum,  28. 

lapses,  251. 

questions  unsettled,  316. 

status,  'J'est  of,   333. 
Morals,  163,  etc. 

Advance  of,  318. 

and  paganism,  320,  321. 

and  trade,  370. 

English,  310-313. 

Higher,  175,  312. 

in  United  States,  prior  to   1800,  192- 
206. 

low  in  literature,  186. 

of  public  men,  286. 

Priestly,  i68. 

Self-poise  in,  377. 

under  Charles  II,  176. 
Morality,  An  accommodating,  165. 

Political,  371. 

Statistics  of,  337. 
Moravians,  610. 

in  whole  world,  733. 
More,  Miss  Hannah,  476. 
Morgan,  Senator,  on  lynchings,  228. 
Mormons,  36. 
Morrison,  Robert,  623. 
Mortality,  Rates  of,  339. 
Mosheim,  quoted,  75. 
Mullens,  Rev.  1  r.,  579. 
MuUer,  459. 

Multiplication  of  schools,  447. 
Murder,  Indulgence  for,  174. 
Murphy,  Edward,  308. 

Francis,  302. 
Murray,  J.  O'Kane,  quoted,  587,  etc. 
Music,  Developed,  495. 

N 

Napoleon's  defeat,  345. 
National  Quarterly  Review,  245,  247. 
Nations,  Progressive,  457. 
Natural  religion,  103.  104. 

science,  92,  130. 
Neander's  Life  of  Christ,  157. 

reoly  to  Strauss,  151. 
Neglect  of  worship,  389. 
Negroes  lynched,  226-228. 
Neoplatonism,  57. 
Neshaming  School,  The,  397. 
New  and  old.  The,  15,  44. 
New  creature,  A,  142. 
New  era  of  culture.  57. 
New  Life,  The  aggressive,  415. 
New  England  morals.  314. 

Divorces  in,  :!i4. 

in  the  United  Slates,  314. _ 
New  Hampshire,  Divorces  in,  233. 
New  monthly  magazine.  244. 
Newspaper  statistics  of  crime,  286. 

Corrupt,  197. 
New  spiritual  era,  409.  etc. 
New  theology  in  Germany,  142. 
Newton,  Sir  Isaac,  159. 


762 


Index. 


New  World  citizens,  363. 
New  York  City   Mission  and  Tract  So- 
ciety, 419,  etc. 

as  a  mission  field,  523. 

Church  Extension  Society,  425. 

Evangelist,  14O. 

Observer,  157. 

Western,  Low  morals  in,  202. 
Nicene  Creed,  The,  118. 
Nihilists,  132. 
Nineteenth     Century,    312,     338,     348, 

431,  432,  460,  664. 
North  American  Review,  30. 
Northampton,  Mass.,  194,  396. 
North  British  Review,  loi,  102. 
North  Coventry,  Conn.,  322. 
Norton,  Mrs.  Mary,  Funeral  of,  191. 
Novels,  Dime,  248. 
Nuremberg,  Crime  in,  174. 

o 

Oaths,  Broken,  165. 
Observation,  43. 
O'Connor,  Bishop,  579. 
Old  and  the  new,  15. 

forms  of  dogmatic  expression,  148. 

Roman  World  in  contrast,  444. 

South  Church,  Boston,  417. 

the  best,   143. 

World  subjects,  363. 
Oneida  Community,  The,  245. 
Opinion,  Public,  supremacy  of,  41. 
Opinions  of  common  people,  438. 
Opposition  to  progress,  663. 
Optimists,  369. 

Orange  County,  New  York,  201. 
Ordinations,  Drinking  at,  400. 
Organizing,  The  new  life,  412-416. 
Orphans,  Care  of,  285. 
Orthodox  forces,  133. 

Greeks,  652. 
Orthodoxy.  Dead,  391. 
Owen,  Robert,  231. 
Oxford  thinking,  132. 


Packard,  Professor  of  Bowdoin  College, 

quoted,  508. 
Padua,  .School  of,  64 
Pagan  populations  of  slow  growth,  456, 

490. 
Paganism  burdens  Christianity,  52. 

Stage  of,  316. 
Page,  Harlan,  419. 
Paine.  Thomas,  106,  149. 
Pantheism  a  speculation,  129. 
Papal  Court,  K.xtravagances  of,  166. 
Paracelsus,  71. 

Pardon  of  sin,  Ground  of,  127. 
Paregoric,  294. 

Parisian  Commune,  The,  341. 
Park  Street  Church,  Boston,  in.  417. 
Parker,  Rev.  Theodore,  quoted,  26,  193, 

197-199,  210,  322.  360. 
Parliamentary  Blue  Book,  628. 


Parton's  Life  of  Burr,  107. 

Pastoral  Letter  of  Presbyterian  General 

Assembly,  203. 
Paul,  St.,  quoted,  42,  143. 
Pauperism,  320-329. 

and  crime,  321. 

and  morals,  320. 

Classes  of,  325. 

hereditary,  326. 

in  England  and  Wales,  278. 
Peet,  Rev.  L.  B.,  quoted,  494. 
Penal  codes,  348. 

inflictions,  J47-349. 
Penalties  mitigated,  275. 
Penmanship,  280. 
Pentateuch,  128. 

Per   capita  Consumption  of  liquors  in 
England,  303. 

in  United  States,  300  301. 
Peril  of  cities,  354. 
Perilous  times  to  come,  31. 
Peripatetics,  65. 
Persecution  of  Protestants,  51. 
Perthes,  Germany,  521. 
Pessimism,  19,  20,  148. 
Pessimists,  205,  324,  350,  369. 
Pestilence,  Causes  of,  336. 
Peter's,  St.,  Church,  155,  581. 
Petrarch,  56. 
Pharisee  preachers,  391. 
Phelps,    Rev.   Dr.   Austin   A.,   quoted, 

100,  401,  486. 
Phenomena  of  sin.  Horrible,  290. 
Philanthropic,  The,  quoted,  495. 
Philanthropy     and     reform,      345-348, 

476-483,  507. 
Philippine  Lsles,  652. 
Phillips,  Philip,  499. 
Philosophical  Dictionary,  108. 
Philosophy,  Modern,  58,  78,  128. 
Phraseology,  Religious,  modified,  123. 

Christian,  adopted  by  infidels,  149. 

of  old  faiths.  93. 
Phy.sical  condition.  The,  486. 

demonstrations  in  religion,  444. 

philanthropy,  70,  71,  etc. 

science,  69,  72,  86. 
Physics  taught  by  the  old  schoolmen,  53. 
Pierce,  Rev.  B.  K.,  quoted,  115. 
Piety,  Decline  of,  in  New  England,  391, 

392- 
Hollow,  29. 
Rootless,  442. 
"Pint  of  doctrine  and  a  pint  of  rum, 

194- 
Pioneer  preacher,  410. 
Piracy  aljolished,  483. 
Pitt,  Influence  of,  189,  335. 
Place  hunters  in  England,  185. 
Plagues,  A  visitation  of,  335. 
Platonic  philosophy,  57. 
Plethro,  65. 
Plotinus,  64. 
Plymouth   Church,    Special    service  by 

scientists,  is7. 
Poland  a  center  of  Antitrinitarians,  77. 


Index. 


763 


Polite  literature,  138. 
Political  bosses,  ^26. 

corruption  in  Lngland,  184. 

corruptiou  in  United  States,  181. 

intriguing,  399. 

rancor  and  servility,  igy. 
Politics,  Overmuch,  a  curse,  360. 
Polynesia,  Missions  in,  643. 

Progress  in,  65i. 

Statistics  of,  643,  644. 
Pomfet,  First  Church  in,  402. 
Pomponatius,  65. 
Poor  and  rich  growing  apart,  191. 

Food  of  the,  337. 

God's,  352. 
"  Poor  growing  poorer,"  326. 
Pope  Leo  X,  66. 

babbling  for  vice,  186. 

The  Antichrist,  58. 
Popery  intriguing,  188. 
Pope's  court.  The  diabolical,  169. 

Encyclical,  The,  340. 

signature  had  its  price,  67. 
Population  of  the  world,  651. 

and  Roman  Catholic  Church,  597. 

Roman    Catholic,   in    United   States, 
579,  etc. 
Populations    under     Christian    govern- 
ments, 654,  666. 

of  Kngland  and  Wales,  Growth  of. 

of  K.urope  in  1500,  527. 

under  Protestant  governments,  661. 
Porphyry,  Influence  of,  64. 
Porter,  Rev.  Fbenezer,  D.D.,  405,  etc. 
Portugal,  Colonies  of,  659. 
Post-bellum  periods,  263. 
Post,  New  York  Evening,  quoted,  100. 
Post,  Rev.  T.  M.,  D.D.,  quoted,  49,  54. 
Potter,  Rev.  W.  J.,  quoted,  24. 
Poverty,  Problem  of,  323,  etc. 
Practical  ethics,  349. 
"  Practical    Infidelity   Portrayed,"   201. 
Prayer-meetings,  401,  406,  416-420,  428. 

for  President  Garfield,  463. 
Pre-existence,  94. 
Premillenarian  theories,  31. 
Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication,  429, 

43°- 
churches  in  Middle  States,  390. 
Presbyterians,  churches  quickened,  397. 
in  England,  unsound,  104. 
in  Scotland,  78. 
in  the  whole  world,  665. 
in  United  States  deplore  low  state  of 
morals,  196. 
President  of  United    States  suppressing 

anarchy,  341. 
Press  gang,  The,  310. 
Preston,  Rev.  Thomas  S.,  22. 
Priesthood    of   believers,  382,   394,  418, 

etc.,  441. 
Priestley,  Dr.,  in  United  States,  112. 
Priests,  Roman  Catholic,  596. 
concubinage  of,  164. 
mistresse>  of,  172. 
Prince  Albert,  313. 


Princeton  College,  Infidelity  in,  107. 
Princeton  College,  Revival  in,  404. 
Printing,  Invention  of,  55,  57,  170. 
Prison  discipline  modified,  477,  etc. 
Probation,  Future,  125. 
Problem  of  the  book,  35,  etc. 

of  the  cities,  354,  363. 
Profanity,  igg,  200,  312. 
Profligacy  of  the  hierarchy,  167. 

of  manners,  204. 
Progress  in  Australia,  etc.,  661. 
Crucial  tests  of,  455. 
E.xpectation  of,  456. 
How  to  estimate,  369. 
in  England,  320. 

in  last  one  hundred  and  fifty  years,  448. 
in  sanitary  science,  333. 
in  temperance,  308. 
in  the  first  Christian  centuries,  604. 
not  in  straight  lines,  210. 
not  limited  liy  Bible  ideas,  456. 
of  Christianity,  645. 
Opposition  to,  663. 
Relative,  in  United  States,  593,  etc. 
Religious,  in  United  States,  560,  etc. 
Whence  the  idea  of,  455. 
Progressive  nations,  457. 
Prologue,  15,  16. 
Propaganda,  The,  614. 
Propagandism  of  Christianity,  514. 
Protestant    missions   in    Papal   popula- 
tions, 531. 
and  Papal  missions,  614. 
and  Papal  nations  compared,  175,  527, 

etc.,  S75,  etc.,  667. 
governments.  Population  under,  655, 

656,  661. 
religion  not  declining,  446. 
Protestantism,  Birth  of,  58. 
a  leading  factor,  47. 
and  crime,  321. 
Darkest  period  of,  6n. 
declared  to  be  a  failure,  20,  22,  30. 
defined,  35. 

does  not  claim  to  be  a  finality,  384. 
Early,  not  missionary,  382. 
embarrassed  by  Aristotelianism,  59. 
encumbered,  51,  384. 
Gains  of,  662. 
Glory  of,  50. 
growth  helped,  155. 
in  England,  541,  etc. 
not  weak,  96. 
Prosperity  of,  42. 

Spirituality  of,  lost  for  a  time,  383. 
Protestants,  English-speaking,  665.  > 
gain  in  Europe,  528,  etc. 
gain  on  Romanism.  528,  etc. 
in  all  the  world,  654. 
Prussia,  Churches  of,  540- 
Publication  Board,  Baptist,  429. 

Boards,  all,  table,  707. 
Public  opinion,  318. 
Punishments,  limited,  310. 
Pure  reason,  129. 
Purifying  processes,  152. 


764 


Index. 


Puritan  morals,  373. 
Puritans,  The,  176,  382,  391. 
Purity,  Improvement  in,  210. 

Q 

Quakerism,  35. 
Quakers,  382,  401. 

Statistics   of,   see   Friends,  685,  688, 
690,  603,  695,  699,  700,  702. 
Queen  Anne,  102. 

of  George  II,  185. 
Questions,  The,  19. 

now  discussed  before  the  people,  43. 

R 

Races  mingling,  491,  492. 

Racow  printing  office,  77. 

Radicalism,  Foreign,  363. 

Raikes,  Robert.  476. 

Rambler,  The,  quoted,  389. 

Randall,    Rev.     Benjamm,     converted 

under  Whitefield,  398. 
Rationalism,  114. 

Raymond,  Rev.  Dr.  Rossiter,  157. 
Reaction  in  temperance,  302. 
Readjustment,  a  trouble,  128. 
Rebound,  Law  of,  316. 
Receipts  of  benevolence,  439. 

for  foreign  missions,  705. 

for  home  missions,  706. 

for  religious  publications,  707. 
Recipe  for  St.  Peter's  stomach,  167. 
Recuperative  power,  373. 
Reformation,  The,  established  by  law, 
382. 

and  excesses,  174. 

doctrines  banished,  104. 

Inception  of,  55. 

not  cause  of  skepticism,  49. 

The,  and  freedom,  667. 

The  struggle  of.  173. 
Reforms  and  philanthropy,  476-483. 

The  Temperance,  482. 
Regeneration,    Doctrine   of,  discarded" 

392-    . 
Registration  manipulated,  360. 
Regium  donum.  The,  182. 
Regulators  organized,  202. 
Relics  of  Popery,  38. 
Religion  in   America,  Baird's,  quoted, 
109. 

advanced,  413. 

and  science,  464. 

Contempt  for,  204. 

defined,   350. 

in  colleges,  474,473. 

less  sanctimonious,  442. 

Low  condition  of,  403. 

not  manufactured,  515. 

personal,  39. 

Revealed  germs  of.  135. 
ReligiousMonthly  Magazine, quoted, 290. 

meetings  only  on  Sunday,  417. 

nature  in  man,  141. 

tests,  467. 


Renaissance  in  Italy,  67. 
Renan's  eulogy  on  Christ,  136. 
Reporters,  Ubiquitous,  259. 
Reports  of  crime,  246. 
Republican,   The  Springfield,  373. 
Respoiisibility,  Personal,  40. 
Results  of  missions,  637. 
Resurrection,  The,  127. 
Retribution,  Doctrine  of,  138,  139. 
Revelation,  142,  143. 
Reverence,  Decline  of,  315,  etc. 
Revival  of  learning,  55,  57,  63,  64,  76. 

at  close  of  last  century  in  Massacliu- 
setts  and  Connecticut,  404,  405,  409. 

Decline  of,  403. 

Edwardean   and    Whitefieldian,    196, 

.    396,  398- 

in  1800,  211,  403,  409,  413. 

in  i8jo-i8;2,  .jig. 

of    religion     in    Massachusetts     Bay 
churches,  383. 

opposed,  391. 

periods  in  United  States,  411. 
Revivals,  Testimonies  to,  by   Rev.  Dr. 
E.  D.  Griffin,  403,  410. 

Testimonies    to,    by    Rev.     Dr.     H. 
Humphrey,  410. 

Testimonies  to,  by  Rev.  Dr.  E.  Porter, 

Testimonies  to,  by  Rev.  Dr.  William 

B.  .Sprague,  403. 
Testimonies  to,  by  Re\ .  Dr.G.  Spring, 

410. 
Testimonies  to,  by  Rev.  Dr.  Bennet 

Tyler,  409. 
under  the  Moravians  and  the  Wesleys, 

189,  383- 
Value  of,  191. 
Revolutionary  War,  Causes  of,  196. 
Revolutionizing  tendencies,  316,  317. 
Revolutions  in  knowledge.  98. 

under  the  Wesleys,  190. 
Reynolds,  Dr.  William,  302. 
Rice,  Rev.  David,  D.D.',  of  Kentucky, 

403- 
Rich  and  poor.  Inequalities  of,  191. 
Rights,  Vaunting  about,  197. 
Ring  rule,  351. 
Rioters,  340-342,  etc. 
Rising  Sun,  The,  671. 
Ritschl,  Dr.  Albrecht,  142. 
Ritualism  in  England,  546. 
Robbery,  Highway,  484. 
Robespierre,  100. 
Robinson,  Rev.  John,  38. 
Roman  Catholic  Church   in  Australia, 
627. 
and    Protestant    missions    compared, 

618,  619,  etc. 
communicants  in  United  States,  575. 
English-speaking  people,  665. 
estimates,  579,  etc. 
Roman  Catholics   under  Christian  gov- 
ernments, 655,  656,  661. 
in  .America,  547,  577-596. 
in  British  Isles,  541,  542,  720,  etc. 


Index. 


765 


Roman  Catholics  in  Canada,  548,  etc. 

in  cities,  364,  365. 

in  Europe,  528,  etc. 

in  Ireland,  542. 

in  Russia,  652. 

in  whole  world,  654. 
Roman  Classics,  56. 

luxury.  264. 
Romanism  and  Protestantism  compared, 
667. 

losing,  663. 

and  the  population,  596,  etc. 

Decay  of,  531. 
Rome,  Church  of.  says,  97. 

revolt  to  skepticism,  97. 
Rousseau,  29,  612. 
Rum,  New  England.  192-200. 

given  to  soldiers,  200. 

West  Indies,  192. 
Runaways  from  matrimony,  231. 
Russell.  Hon.  John  A.,  582. 
Russia,  extent  and  population,  658. 

language  spoken,  665. 

Temperance  in.  305. 
Ruter,  Rev.  Dr.  Martin,  466. 


Sabbath,  The,  179,  19-4197,  211-222. 

Sabellian  theorj-,  The,  136. 

Sacculina,  325. 

Sack,  Rev.  Father,  581. 

Sadlier's   Roman  Catholic   Year-Book , 

580-582,  624. 
Sailor's  Magazine,  The,  quoted,  506. 
Saintship,  Low  type  of,  187. 
Salisburj',  Lord,  quoted,  92. 
Saloonocracy,  357. 
Salter's  Hall,  104. 
Salvation  Army,  J07. 
Samoa,  Missions  in,  632. 
Sanchez,  84. 
Sand,  George,  250. 
San   Francisco,  improving,  287. 
Sanitary  science,  490,  491. 

legislation,  3J4. 
Sankey  and  I'liss,  498. 
Savings  banks  in  England,  280. 
Saxons  invade  England,  364. 
Scandals  in  Mediaeval  Age,  167. 
Schauffler.  Rev.  Dr.  A.  E.,  425. 
Schelling's  testimony  to  Christ,  136. 
Scheliema,  Rev.  Adama  Von,  307. 
Schem,  Prof.,  quoted.  520,  528,  650,  651. 
Schleiermacher,  141. 
Schneider,  Dr.,  quoted,  508. 
Scholarship,  hold  on  the  churches,  465. 
Scholasticism,  Roman  Catholic,  50,  53, 

,  45'- 
Schoolmen,  The,  50. 
Schonburg,  663. 
Schopenhauer,  19,  141. 

Protestant,  457. 
Schuylkill  Canal,  328. 
Schwartz,  610. 
Science,  Discoveries  in,  158. 


Science  and  practical  piety,  132, 149, 157. 

and  public  health,  337. 

Sanitary.  333-339. 

Statistical,  511. 

vindicates  missions,  623. 

vindicates  religion,  134,  135. 
Scotch  Irish  I'resbyterians,  194. 
Scotus  Duns,  54. 
Scriptures,  The,  translated,  57. 
SeamaiTs   Friend,  The  American,  506, 
507- 

Progress  of  Nations,  quoted.  527. 
Sears,  Rev.  E.  H.,  140. 
Sectarianism  discarded,  467. 
Seer,  The  Indian,  15. 
Self-government,  378. 

organizing,  414. 

support.  323. 
Sensational  press.  The,  368. 
Separations  from  matrimony,  234,  235. 
Scptuagint,  The,  628. 
Servants  owned,  322. 
Servetus,  26,  74. 

Services  in  New  England  Churches,  113. 
Settlement,  '1  he  University,  501. 
Shaftesbury,  Lord,  quoted,  84,  93. 
Shakespeare's  father,  337. 
Shelling,  quoted,  72. 
Sherlock,  78. 

Sherman,  Hon.  John,  314. 
Sick,  The,  visited,  421. 
Sickne.ss,  The  Sweating.  334. 
Sifting  out  the  wheat,  141. 
Simplicity  of  Truth,  153. 
Sittings  in  churches  of  United  States, 

567,  etc. 
Skeptical     Era     in     Modern      Times, 
quoted,  49,  54. 

spell  broken,  113. 
Skepticism,  27. 

in  colleges,  93. 

in  Italy,  64,  66,  67. 

in  United  States,  105. 

Modern,  63,  138. 
Skeptics  busy  in  self-defense,  151. 
Slavery,  479.  etc. 

abolished.  481. 

Atrocities  of,  221,  223,  224,  229. 

in  England,  479,  etc. 
Slums.  The,  490-507. 
Small-pox  malignant,  335. 
"  Smash  up,"  a  great,  31. 
Smith,  Charles  Stewart,  635. 

Prof.  Gold  win.  28,  93. 

Rev.  John  Cotton.  211. 

Rev.  Newman,  134. 
Smollett,  quoted.  179. 
Social  condition,  486. 
Socialism,  Christian,  500. 
Socialistic  communities,  245. 

efforts  of  radicals,  etc.,  232. 
Societies,  Evangelizing,  started,  412,  etc. 
Society  of  the  holy  childhood,  614. 
Socinian  ideas,  112. 

in  Established  Church,  104. 

printing  office,  77. 


766 


Index. 


Socinii,  The,  brothers,  75-77. 
Sociologists,  Vagaries  of,  285. 
Solidarity,  136. 
Song,  Christian,  advances,  496. 

Christ  in,  494. 
Songs,  Indecent,  312. 
Sophi,  The,  660. 
South  African  Missions,  632. 
Southern  Observer,  The,  594. 
Spain  and  colonies,  659. 
Spaulding,  Archbishop,  Life  of,  586. 
Spectator,  quoted,  300. 
Speculative  lines  converging,  129. 
Spencer,  Herbert,  quoted,  131,  135. 
Spinoza,  79. 
Spiritism,  114. 
Spirits,  Distilled,  200. 
Spiritual  religion,  517. 

vitality,  380,  etc. 
Spring,  Rev.  Dr.  Gardner,  mobbed,  214. 

Rev.  Dr.  Ciardner,  quoted,  220,  410. 
St.  Chrysostom,  quoted,  495. 
Stack,  William,  quoted,  194. 
State,  Break  from,  39,  40. 

colleges,  468. 
States,    Independent,    under    Christian 

governments,  745,  etc. 
Statesman's  Year-Book,  280,    528,   535, 

625. 
Statistics  of  Australia,  627. 

Ecumenical,  729,  etc. 

of  Bibles,  640,  641. 

of  British  Isles,  540-544. 

of  Canada,  548-55°- 

of  Charities,  346. 

of  Christianity,  649,  650. 

of  Christians  and  non-Christians  in 
the  world,  653. 

of  Churches,  ministers,  sittings,  etc., 
in  1775,  1800,  1850,  1870,  1880,  1890, 
and  1894,  554-606,  675-689. 

of  churches  in  Boston,  422. 

of  churches  in  cities,  713. 

of  crime,  218,  252,  262,  274,  282,  286. 

of  denominations  in  world,  665. 

of  divorce,  231-240. 

of  liberal  churches,  576,  694,  695. 

of  liquor,  293-303. 

of  lynchings,  225,  228. 

of  missions,  643. 

of  missions  in  Japan,  626. 

of  New  York  city,  224,  423,  432-435. 

of  pauperism,  281. 

of  population  of  United  States,  557. 

of  Protestants  in  world,  654. 

of  Roman  Catholic  churches  in  United 
States,  577,  596,  696. 

of  Roman  Catholics  in  world,  654. 

of  tracts,  428-430. 

of  wages,  327,  714. 

of  Young  ^Ien's  Christian  Associa- 
tion, 433. 

of  Young  \Vomen's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation, 435. 

Religious,  of  Europe,  528-540. 

Religious,  of  Polynesia,  643. 


Statistics,  Religious,  of  population   in 

India,  625. 
Religious,  of  population  of  world,  651. 
See  Appendi.x,  673,  750. 
Stevens,  Leslie,  quoted,  104. 
Stoical  philosophy,  57. 
Stoughton's  Elixir,  294. 
Straight  lines  not  e.xpected,  210. 
Strauss,  David,  141,  145. 
Strikes,  340,  etc. 
Strong,  Rev.    Nathan,    D.D.,   quoted, 

104,  109,  no. 
Struggles,  Alemorable,  205. 
Students  from  Western  Europe  in  Italy, 

57- 
Suffrage,  The    right    of,  conferred   by 

marriage,  244. 
Summary  of  Boston  city  mission  labors, 

421. 
Sumner,  Hon.  Charles,  372. 
Sun,  The  rising,  671. 
Sunday-schools,  418. 
Sunday  theaters,  362. 
Sunrise  and  sunset  prayer,  406. 
Superstitions  outgrown,  50,  316. 
Surgery  improved,  337. 
Sweaters  in  London,  178. 
Sweating  sickness,  334. 
Sweden,  Temperance  in,  305. 
Switzerland  and  temperance,  306. 
Syllogistic  gins,  73. 


Tablet,  The,  quoted,  586. 

Tait,  Professor,  132. 

Tamil  language,  610. 

Tammany,  266,  359. 

Tarbo.v,  Rev.  Dr.  I.  N.,  203,  399. 

Taylor,  Isaac,  quoted,  102,  395. 

Rev.  William,  459. 
Technical  expression.  The  old  cast  off, 

148. 
Telsius,  68-71. 
Telugus  Mission,  The,  644. 
Temperance  on  the  continent  of  Europe, 

305,  etc. 
Temporal  power.  Loss  of,  533-536. 
Tennent,  Gilbert,  397. 

John,  397. 

William,  391,  397. 
Territory  acquired     by  Great    Britain, 

664. 
Testimony  for  missions,  628,  etc. 
Tests,  Religious,  in  colleges,  467. 
Theism,  130. 

Theodicies  less  elaborate,  90. 
Theological  rationalism,  129. 
Theology,  Christian,  457. 

Emancipated,  154. 

New,  in  Germany,  142. 

purified,  123. 

restored,  152. 

Swiss,  536. 

Value  of  the  old,  148. 
Theosophy,  70,  71. 


Index. 


767 


Thieves  fattening  at  public  expense,  255. 

Thirty  Years'  War,  The,  331. 

Thoreau,  quoted,  145,  146. 

Thought,  The  workl  s,  455,  etc. 

Threatening  aspects,  89. 

Threeness  in  the  Godhead,  126. 

Thug-rule,  357,  361. 

Thwing,  Rev.  Dr.  C.  H.,  475. 

Tillotsun,  78. 

Tinnevelly  Mission,  644. 

Toland,  84. 

Topiady,  quoted,  497. 

Torpidity,  442. 

Tract  societies,  American,  429,  430. 

societies  in  England,  395. 
Tracts,  Religious,  given,  430. 

scarce,  205. 
Trade,  Character  of,  370. 
Traitors,  how  treated,  347. 
Transfer  of  Roman  Catholic  States  to 

the  Protestant  side,  662. 
Transition,  An  age  of,  459. 

from  Mill  to  Spencer,  132. 
Transylvania     University,    Kentucky, 

and  infidelity,  107. 
Travesties  of  religion,  458. 
Trinitarian  theology,  36. 
Trinity,  The,  74. 

no  longer  Tritheism,  126. 
True  Light,  The,  153. 
Trumbull,  Governor,  on  divorces,  232. 

Rev.  Dr.,  392. 
Truth,  Perverted,  457. 

Simple,  153. 
Turkish  inroads,  331. 
Turks,  few  laws,  462. 
Turner,  Rev.  William,  quoted,  77. 
Tyerman.  quoted,  102,  179,  188. 
Tyler,   Rev.  Rennet,  on  revivals,  409. 
Tyndall,  Professor,  quoted,  84,  131, 132. 
Typical  periods,  163,  380. 

U 

Uebervveg,  quoted,  58,  63,  68,  70,  72,  78. 
Unbelief,  Abnormal,  100. 

Defeated,  133. 

Poor,  144. 

Spread  of,  389. 
Unchastity,  164,  230. 
Unemjiloyed,  The,  326. 
Unitarians,  36,  74,  75,  77,  iii,  112,  694. 

English-speaking,  665. 

in  Harvard  College,  467. 
Universalists,  36,  no,  140,  695. 
Universities  founded,  56. 
University  of  London  and  Mill's  logic, 

•33- 

settlement,  501. 
United  States  Census,  quoted,  281. 

Extent  of,  556. 

increase  of  population,  557. 
Unrest,  Social,  340,  etc. 
Unselfishness,  Need  of,  igi. 
Utopian  hallucination,  19. 

theories,  31,  344. 


Vagaries,  Ephemeral,  99. 

Vallee's  pamphlet,  68. 

Value  of  church  property  in  the  United 

States,  571. 
Van  Ruren,  376. 
Versions  of  the  Hible,  638. 
Vice  and  crime,  288. 

unfriendly  to  health,  333. 
Victoria,  Queen,  e.xerts  a  good  influence, 

3°9-  ^  • 
pure  lite,  309. 
quoted,  463. 
Virginia    churches,  law   in   early   time, 

39<^- 
Visitations  by  plague,  334,  335. 
Visits,    Religious,  by  colporteurs,  etc., 

421-429. 
Vitality  of  American  Christianity,  414. 

of  Wesleyanism,  394. 
Volney,  149. 
Voltaire,  29,  612,  640. 
Volumes,  Religious,  given  away,  430. 
Voluntary     conditions     of     American 

Churches,  41. 
Votes  purchasable,  326. 
Vulgate,  The,  638. 

'W 

Wadsworth.  Hon.  Mr.,  quoted,  328. 
Wages  a  centurj'  ago,  329. 

debated  on  in  Congress,  328. 

Statistics  of,  714. 
Walker,  Hon.  F.  A.,  281,  325. 
Walpole,  Horace,  186,  484. 
Walworth.  Hon.  Mr.,  211. 
War,  The  Thirty  Years',  331. 
Wa-shington,  George,  198. 

Courage  of,  399. 
Washingtonian  speakers,  300. 
Waters,  Miss  Abigail,  401. 
Watson,  Rev.  Richard,  188. 
Watts.  3S7. 

quoted,  497. 
Webster.  Hon.  D..  462. 
Wedgewood,  Julia,  177. 
Weekly  Miscellany,  102,  387. 
Weld,  Rev.  Mr.,  quoted,  493. 
Wesley,  Rev.  John,  497,  498. 

an  .Xrminian.  394. 

at  Lincoln  College,  102.  "" 

Conservative  influence  of,  396,  480. 

formed  societies.  384. 

Influence  of,  106,  189. 

Isaac  Taylor  on,  102. 

Rev.  Charles,  497. 

Revival  under,  189. 
Wesleyan  Movement,  The,  394,  518,  519. 

University.  Middletown.  Conn.,  466. 
Wesleyanism  eulogized,  475. 
West,  The,  penetrated  by  churches.  416. 

The,  a  marvel  of  enterprise,  342. 
Western  Division  of  United  States,  450. 

purity  improving,  287. 

reserve,  314. 


768 


Index. 


Western  Review,  quoted,  144. 
Westminster  Abbey,  159. 

Catechism,  124. 
Wheelock,  iJr.,  of  Dartmouth,  398. 
Whitaker's  Ahnanac,  189,  276,  278,  280, 

542,  651,  655. 
Whitby,  78. 

Whitefield,  Rev.  G.,  106,  387,  394. 
Whitewash,  rare,  323. 
Whitmer,  Rev.  S.  J.,  632. 
Whittier,  J.  G.,  15,  16,  223. 
Wilberforce,  476,  481. 
William    and    Mary    College,  212,  404, 

413- 
Williams,  Geo.    M.,  founds  the  Young 

Men's  Christian  Association,  431. 
Williamsburg,  Va.,  morals  low,  212. 
Winchester,  Rev.  Elhanan,  110-126. 
Wines,  Hon.  F.  A.,  quoted,  282. 
Winthrop,  Hon.  Robert  C,  158,  159. 
Withrow,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  L.,  669. 
Witnesses  in  Le.xow  case,  359. 
Wives  exposed  for  sale  in  England,  244. 
Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union, 

299. 
Women,  Coarse,  186. 

and  suffrage,  244. 

and  wages,  329. 

in  coal  pits,  311. 

missionary  societies,  613. 

sold  with  a  halter,  244. 


Wooden  horse,  The,  392. 
Woods,  Rev.  Leonard,  D.D.,  200. 
World,    'J'he,    "  to   wax   wise   and    un- 
wise," 20. 
World-wide  view.  The,  649-672. 
Wreckers,  483. 

Wright,  Hon.  Carroll  D.,  236-238,  283, 
3271  349- 
Fanny,  231. 
Wycliffe  and  Huss,  169. 

X 

Xavier,  St.  Francis,  624. 


Yale  College,  Infidelity  in,  106. 

Revival  in,  104. 
Yankee  merchants  dishonest,  370. 
Years  of  labor   by   home   missionaries, 

etc.,  430. 
Young     INlen's    Christian    Association, 

365,418,  431-435- 
Young  people  and  temperance,  304. 
Young  Women's  Christian  Association, 

Statistics  of,  435. 


Zwingli,  26. 


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